


Beyond Light and Dark

by Hobohaymaker13



Series: Hobohaymaker13/Countconiine LOK Saga [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, And More Foxy Kya, But Not How You'd Expect It., Called It Before The End Of Season 4, F/F, F/M, Funny, Gen, Go In Expecting Dark Subject Matter, Gory Violence, He's Not The Hero, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Korra is, Korrasami is Canon, Multi, Multiverse, Not kidding, Oh, Original Character(s), Other, Past Rape/Non-con, Sad, Sequel, Serious, Serious Though, There are some REALLY HEAVY DARK Subject Matter In This, There's A Reason That Trigger Tag Is There, Too Many Reveals To List Off, Triggers, Wedding, but has a happy ending, no, sexy moments, trust us
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:14:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 195,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26710480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobohaymaker13/pseuds/Hobohaymaker13
Summary: FInally, both Avatar Korra and Asami Sato are to have their wedding in two weeks. But an unlikely visitor comes with a warning of a evil coming, one that Korra had been having nightmares about. And as they and the rest of the Krew find out, it's much bigger than anyone could ever expect, not just in their universe, but others as well.Or: "Legend of Korra: Into The Korra-Verse" (Had to, couldn't resist)Collab with the wonderful 'countconiine' (writer of the "Vampire Asami AU"'s and "The Avatar Space Fleet") and AvatarPiptook!
Relationships: Bolin/Opal (Avatar), Korra/Asami Sato, Lin Beifong/Kya II, Mako (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Hobohaymaker13/Countconiine LOK Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907419
Comments: 60
Kudos: 74





	1. Teaser

**Author's Note:**

> And so, the second LOK story collab between me and Countconiine begins... somewhat, more will be explained at the end notes...

In a dark dimly lit room, a figure stands in the middle as something spins around them...

Before another is seen, different from the first figure before more different figures are seen standing alone, as if giving a pose...

It becomes clear it's those referred to as the Crew, or "Krew" to those within it, the sound of a acoustic guitar heard playing notes, as Avatar Korra is the first one seen, looking down at her powerful hands, knowing she is the bridge between both worlds, the four elements forming up around her in minor ways as her short hair softly lifts in the air, everything slowing down...

_"So tell me," The voice of the master waterbender Katara is heard. "What are these nightmares you're talking about?"_

_Korra's voice follows “The one last night was....” Her voice is telling that these have been constant and she doesn't know what's up with them from how she speaks. “I’ve had another. A few days ago, but it was… strange."_

_**"Underneath the bridge..."** _

Asami Sato is now seen standing, holding up the electric glove she's wearing on her hand, an knowing look on her face, seeming prepared for something big....

_"But they're just dreams, right?" Asami is now heard, talking about her fiancé's dreams._

_"If it was anyone else coming to me about this, I would have said the same thing..." Katara answered the Engineer, full of knowledge collected over the years..._

**_"The tarp has sprung a leak..."_ **

Mako now stands in place, slowly waving his arms around as the fire he's bending follows his hands, a focused look on her face before delivering some fire kicks.

**_"And the animals I've trapped..."_ **

_"But an Avatar's dreams can't be dismissed the same way..." Katara's voice continues to be heard. "... You're connected to the world in a very different way, Korra, and it speaks to you in a way it can't with us..."_

Bolin, ever so ready, yet still with the innocent look on his face, moves one hand up, a large stone following it before raising the other, a red hot hardened piece of magma too following his lead.

**_"... Have all become my pets..."_ **

_"You’re not saying these could mean something, are you?" Korra is heard asking the master, fear in her voice at what she might say._

The chief of police in Republic City, Lin Beifong stands stotic in her spot, watching the metal cords drop from her gauntlet, moving on it's own as she metalbends them around herself, something bothering her mind.

_"I do not know the exact meaning of what's happening..." Katara began to answer once more to her student..._

**_"And I'm living off of grass..."_ **

The airbender Opal Beifong mediates, her hands together as she closes her eyes, allowing the air to blow around her, flowing freely among herself.

**_"And the drippings from the ceiling..."_ **

_"But we need to stay vigilant..." The wise old voice continued being heard..._

The waterbender healer known as Kya slowly moves around, waving her hands around as she allows the water floating around her gracefully follow her, feeling one with the water.

_"If something is trying to send you a message..." The voice of Kya's mother began to note, knowing what Korra had told her means something..._

**_"But it's okay to eat fish..."_ **

The surefire eyes of the girl with a braided mohawk, Thuy jumps around in place, shadowboxing some punches and high kicks, while also metalbending her metal wires around herself before putting them back.

**_"'Cause they don't have any feelings..."_ **

An odd purple energy light briefly flashed around the boots Korra is wearing, seeming to spark up as something was happening...

_"... then something terrible might be happening." Katara finally finished speaking, warning the Avatar of what might, or will come._

Mako continued his firebending with ease before getting into position, starting to charge up a bolt of lighting from his unscarred hand before firing it with a silent yell, the purple energy briefly changing his appearance to that of a bipedal wolf person with grey fur in his clothes...

_**"Something in the way... Ummmmm..."** _

Bolin is now throwing kicking away the large stone with his earthbender before letting forth the piece of magma in the shape of a disc, the purple energy now briefly turning him into that of a waterbender, the magma replaced by water as he's now clad in clothes from the water tribe...

_**"Something in the way... yeah, Ummmmm..."** _

Kya continues her peaceful waterbending, feeling the energies around her as she closes her eyes, the purple energy once more for a split second making her look more cynical in her eyes with darkened makeup around them, her hair in a ponytail as she reached out with only her left hand as she was missing her right arm, which was replaced with that made of water.

_**"Something in the way... Ummmmm..."** _

Lin makes various pieces of metal float around her before lashing at them, tearing them into pieces with her bending as the purple energy once more changing things, briefly showing her in more civilian attire, notably a red, black, gold hooded jacket, hot lava following her fists. And the right side of her face had more scars than before, rage on her face.

**_"Something in the way... yeah, Ummmmm..."_ **

Thuy kept going with her shadowboxing and metalbending her wires, moving with both agility and force with her punches and kicks, the purple energy briefly changing her appearance to that of a odd robe with an unusual looking hat covering everything but her face, fire now coming from her kicks and punches.

_**"Something in the way... Ummmmm..."** _

Opal Beifong's eyes open as she gets on her feet and begins to move her hands around, letting the air flow around her, spinning up a ball of air as the purple energy quickly made her look like another robed figure, yet more of like a shaolin monk as she held a beautiful staff, the front of her hair shaved to show the blue airbender tattoo on her forehead along with her arms.

**_"Something in the way... yeah, Ummmmm..."_ **

The acoustic guitar continued it's slow strumming on it's own as Asami stayed in place, looking down at the electric glove of hers, the purple energy changing things once more, though the change lasts just a bit longer as her glove looks more handmade, a purple crystal adorning it.

_"Please forgive me for what I’m about to do..." Korra was heard saying to an unknown person, her voice sounding so broken..._

Korra stood there, still looking at her hands as the elements kept moving around her, the purple flashes becoming more apparent as was all the different looks she had with each flash, from her clothes, her physical appearance, each different in their own right.

_"We're have to kill you, it's the only way..." Asami's voice was now calling out, it being obvious she herself felt horrible for what she's about to do..._

The prepared look on Asami's face, due to the purple energy, turns from one of focus to that of sadness, a small tear falling from her pale cheeks as she no longer wore her jacket, allowing a deep scar to be just seen on the shoulder.

_"I will stay by your side Korra, I love you..." Asami's beautiful voice was heard sung out her lips..._

Korra looks up, seemingly at the viewer, knowing what's going to happen, her Cyan eyes ready for what's next...

_"Thank you, I love you too Asami..." Korra's voice, thankful to hear that, was heard being happy, being the last thing heard..._

... before the purple flash briefly, but most notably, her eyes now _glowing blood red_ before cutting to black.

**_Beyond Light And Dark_ **

_**A New Legend of Korra Fanfic from Hobohaymaker13 and Countconiine** _

_**Coming Soon...** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what you just read was a... teaser trailer of sorts to the story. Alot hinted, some more obvious, but not as much either, there's still a good ol' mystery to be solved here. Not like last story, but you get what I mean. Me and coniine are still working on the actual story and we want to finish it before posting the actual first chapter, but we hope this little tease gets those who read "Blood in The Shadows" interested and any new readers curious to check out that, then this. And we may not be the only ones working on this... :Looks around with shifty eye dog from the Simpsons eyes:
> 
> Also, while the last story had some dark content, this... Oooh BOY... So, if there's some triggers in a future chapter, you will be warned.
> 
> BEFORE I END THIS NOTE! Obviously, the lyrics in bold lettering used is from "Something In The Way" by Nirvana, it just fit the tone for this little teaser... and I still have the teaser trailer for "The Batman" in my head. XP May not be the only time lyrics from other songs are used, but hush...


	2. Chapter One- Nightmares and Purple Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yo! Guess what, finally decided to at least post the first ACTUAL chapter of this fic. Now, that said, there's some restraint with this choice, not cause me nor Coniine have any ill-will towards the story, but... well, at the end, there's some notes and a bit of an important announcement.
> 
> Also, there is a big Trigger warning, not just for this chapter, but for the entire story as like mentioned last chapter, there is some VERY dark content in this fic that will more than likely trigger some readers, so best just to give you guys the heads up.
> 
> That noted, due to the amount of violence in this chapter, including the implied death of a child, some similarities to recent events involving certain hate groups, and a brief reference to sexual assault. So just a heads up.

"That's it, Korra!" Tonraq chuckled, holding his arms out as his young daughter took her first steps. The toddler wobbled, before clumsily putting one foot in front of the other, waving her arms to regain her balance. "You can do it! Come on, one more!" 

The young Avatar had a look of utmost concentration, brows furrowed and tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she struggled to get control of her other foot. She stumbled and fell forward, before her dad caught her in his arms. 

"You were so close this time!" He encouraged her. 

"Honey, dinner's ready." Senna walked over, laying down a bowl of steaming broth on the table, before smiling at their daughter. "You're getting stronger each day, aren't you?" 

Korra giggled, holding her arms out towards her mother as the woman picked her up from Tonraq. 

The water tribe Chief stood up catching a whiff of the delicious broth, his stomach rumbling. 

He was interrupted by a loud crash. 

He spun round. The wall of their hut was blown straight off and he gasped. Standing in the gaping hole was a dark figure, shadows dripping and whirling around them. The darkness seeped all around them, and they seemed able to be able to control it. 

"Senna! Get Korra away from here!" 

The woman clung tightly to the toddler, trying to shush her cries as she made a run for it. 

Tonraq weaved water around him before throwing it at the figure. A shadow tentacle rose from the darkness and dispersed his water away. His eyes widened. He had never seen shadowbending before. 

Senna had nearly made it to the door, when a shadow hand rose up and grabbed her by the leg. She screamed, trying to escape its grip but it was no use. 

"Senna!" The Chief ran to his wife, but before he could make it he dropped to his knees, his voice nothing more than a whimper. A spiked shadow jutted out of his chest as blood stained his clothes. He took his last breath as his lungs were punctured, and he fell on the floor in a pool of blood. 

Korra wailed and Senna yelled for her husband but there was nothing else she could do as more shadows held her in place. 

The dark figure approached. She could just about make out what they looked like around the darkness. It… It looked like someone familiar, but just as Senna realized who it was, she covered in ethereal shadows. 

The figure said nothing as the shadow tentacles wrapped themselves around Senna's neck. The woman gasped for breath as they tightened. She struggled against them but it was no use. As her body was shutting down, her arms dropped young Korra, who fell to the floor with a thud, clutching at her mother's ankles and wailing for her. 

Senna went limp against the shadows, and the dark figure stooped down, prying the toddler away from her mother's body.

The young Avatar screamed, pounding her small hands against the figure, crying out at what it had done to her parents with her eyes closed, the toddler kicking and screaming as her eyes opened, having turned into a glowing white.

Just then, the shadowy figure grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and lifted her up high, seeming to cause the small child’s Avatar state to cancel out, as Korra saw behind it was the hole on the side of the hut it came through.

Her small cyan colored eyes saw many bloody corpses laid out in the snow on the other side, including the nice lady who had been told she’d be teaching her waterbending.

"Wow, even when I was little, I was such a fighter…"

That snapped Korra's attention back to the evil figure, realizing it spoke with a female voice.

But it was what she said that got her attention the most as she got a good look at the face of her family's killer as the shadows looked to vanish.

Even for her young age, Korra realized she was looking at an _older_ version of herself, whose eyes were filled with malice as she held up her hand as it began to glow red…

As did both of her eyes as she gave an evil grin.

"Too bad it's not enough."

The last thing the young Korra saw was the glowing hand come towards her forehead, thumb out as she gave a loud scream.

* * *

"AAAAAHHHHHH!”

Korra awoke, eyes widened in shock. She sat up in her bed, dripping with cold sweat. 

“Korra? Are you ok?” 

She looked to her side. Asami’s hand was on her shoulder, looking at her worriedly. She must have woken her up too. 

The Avatar took a few breaths to calm down as Fumi made her way on their bed, curling up in her arms, seeing her owner needed some caring as Naga too slandered over, nudging her arm with her nose. “Y-Yeah. Bad dream.” The images of her parents being killed flashed in her mind. “V-Very bad dream.” 

The engineer rubbed her back. “It’s ok. It’s gone now.” 

“Yeah…” Korra gulped, petting both the wolfcat and polar bear dog for comfort. “It’s gone now.” 

* * *

It had been half a year since the end of the Equalist Ripper, now known to be a former Equalist who was deceived by a shadow spirit into hunting down those who caused him to accidentally murder his family before his own death.

All in the goal for the spirit to take over the man’s body to prevent going back to the spirit world and to reign chaos upon the world.

It was the Avatar who, alongside her trusted allies and even the Ripper himself, vanquished the evil spirit for good, but at the cost of the unexpected ally who gave his life to save the Chief of police.

While certain details of his past remain unknown, with only a select group of people knowing the truth, the man known as Hattori Hanzo has gone into history as a good man broken by monsters, both in human and spirit form, forced to redeem himself in death.

But even after his death, he remains a polarizing figure among the city, not just due to how he dealt with his victims or what he had done to come back from the dead, but for his quest of revenge against the select group of Equalist’s inspired a movement against the extremist group as a whole.

One that the deceased himself had gone on record for despising for taking his goal and warping it to fit their own twisted ideas, considering anyone who opposed their views against Equalists as part of the anti-bender group themselves, bender or not. Comparisons to the bender supremacist movement of Cranefish Town many years before was not lost on anyone with a functioning brain.

And the group, who’d become known simply as the “Universal Elements”, were causing a riot in the middle of the city, one that was currently being taken care of.

“We are the ones who expel the unwanted, the ones who will not be replaced-” One member tried to yell out among the frenzied group as various metalbending police tried arresting them, a large flame rising from his hand, only to get metal wrapped out his mouth, shutting the zealot up before being dragged through the air and kicked hard in the chest by the Chief of police.

“Alright, make sure we get these idiot Uem’s cuffed and locked up!” Lin yelled out before stretching her arm out to the side, just in time for another Universal Elements member, or “Uems” as they have been nicknamed, to run right into it, knocking them out before resuming trying to put things back into order.

Mako glided along the ground within the crowded mess, thrusting flames from his palm towards some Uems, directing them to his brother, with Bolin using some of the stone ground to trap some by the feet, preventing them from escaping.

Opal herself created mini-air tornadoes to spin around a group of the rioters, sending them into a dizzying fit, allowing for the newest member of the crew, Thuy, to tie up her metal strings around each of their arms and legs with her metalbending, restricting their movement, both friends giving each other high fives.

Lin herself saw how things were going, better than she expected truth to be told. Then again, these “Anti-Equalist Extremists”, “Uems”, whatever dumbass moniker they went under, were mostly all talk, but still an issue. 

They were sad pathetic idiots who placed the blame for their own shortcomings on those they hated for one ignorant reason or another, not knowing they were as bad as those they claim to be saving the city from.

While Lin knew these criminals treated Hattori Hanzo as their founding leader, she knew for a fact that the man, who unknown to most of the city was her long lost half-brother born from a one night stand between her mother and a Fire Nation Soldier, made his hate for the then unnamed movement, on the same level as the Equalists, quite known. 

Usually by brutally assaulting those who followed it, or in the case of one wannabe follower who sexually assaulted a young non-bender woman in front of her own family, liquefying every part of his body except for the bones.

And if her brother were still alive today, Lin knew Hattori would be there by her side handling these intolerant pieces of trash.

“Alright, you all had enough?” The Chief asked, looking at all the different Uem’s currently cuffed or knocked out at the moment, the sound of none of their incessant complaining being music to her ears. 

That and some of the groans of pain as the metal bender saw her niece, Bolin, Mako and that one metal bender girl he was going out with regroup, walking towards Lin as her fellow officers began to round the criminals up.

“TRAITORS!” One voice rang out behind Lin as she turned to see a waterbending Universal Elements member look to form up an ice blade, only for a wave of water to slam him hard against a nearby Satomobile, knocking him out.

“Should have sensed him!”

The group, especially Lin, knew that voice as they turned and saw it was indeed Kya who had done it, getting out of her waterbending pose, giving a coy smirk at her partner, who knew where she was coming from

“I knew he was coming, Kya!”

“Oh, so you’re not getting rusty in your old age then?” The waterbender teased as Lin strolled up to her and gave a knowing smirk as they got close enough.

“You know for a fact I still got it in more ways than one.”

Thuy giggled at this. “Oh, such a lovely couple, these two is.” She noted, remembering when she first met the two, giving a grin to Mako. “Thanks for giving me a heads up, love. Know I’m always set for some cranium crackin’.”

“You were helping make a civilian arrest along with assisting police officers during a riot.” Mako noted in a serious tone, but then gave a small smile to his girlfriend. “You just happen to be a tough and cute metal bender.”

“Aw, thanks.”

Bolin saw his brother’s girlfriend kiss him on the lips, slightly grimacing. “And people say you and me are too lovey dovey.” He said as Opal gave a mock pout.

“I think it’s sweet, she brings out the best in him.”

“So, why couldn’t Korra join in on the fun? Little too preoccupied with getting ready to tie the knot with Asami?” Thuy asked, curious as the others looked at her.

“Apparently she’s been under the weather lately.” Bolin noted, remembering when he and Opal recently visited the soon to be married couple at Asami’s place, seeing that something was on the back of the Avatar’s mind. “Something about bad dreams.”

“What, like some dream spirit is coming for her while she’s dreaming?" Lin asked, trying to make some form of joke, giving a quick noting glance at Kya. “Please tell me that sounded as good as it did in my head.”

“I liked it.” The Waterbender said before giving a peck on the cheek before looking at the others with a more honest look on her face. “Whatever’s been bothering her, I know she’ll pull through. Besides, I heard she and Asami were visiting my mother over at Tenzin’s home. If anyone could help Korra out, it’s her.”

* * *

The waterbending master took a sip of her tea before looking up at the young couple before her. She had brought out cushions for them to sit on in the courtyard, huddled around the teapot.

"So tell me," Katara started. "What are these nightmares you're talking about?" 

Korra took a deep breath. “The one last night was…” she furrowed her brows and closed her eyes, seeing the gory scene play out in front of her again. She shuddered and she felt Asami rub her back gently. “I saw myself when I was young, like when I was very young. I took my first steps. Before a shadowbender killed both my parents and… did something to me. I’m not sure what.” She opened her eyes. Katara’s expression was still calm but her eyes were already deep in thought. 

“And these dreams,” the master said, “do you have them often?” 

“I’ve had another. A few days ago, but it was… strange.” She held on to her cup tightly, swishing the tea around. “I saw myself again, but grown up. I was trying to master airbending, but it wasn't Tenzin that was teaching me, it was Kya. And Republic City looked... off. But then the same thing happened. The Shadowbender fought the people around me, except this time I saw myself fight too but I wasn't strong enough. And it ended just as the other one did."

The dream played on repeat in the Avatar’s mind. A distorted Republic City, and the shadowbending figure destroying it. She saw Kya by her side, airbender tattoos visible on her shaved forehead, but even her skills couldn’t save them from the evil figure as it slashed her throat open with a shadow claw before seeing the figure grab herself by the throat, mocking her as it pressed it’s glowing thumb against her forehead.

Katara nodded slowly. “That does sound very strange.” The thought of her daughter having been an airbender instead of Tenzin took her by surprise. She couldn’t understand where Korra could have even gotten the idea from.

“That’s not the very strange part.” Korra began, unsure if she should mention the other large detail, but sighed. “In all my dreams, the shadowbender,” She gulped, her hands trembling as she put down her cup of tea, looking at both women with a scared look in her eyes. “It was _me_ , like a different me who was the one doing all these horrible acts.”

“But they’re just dreams, right?” Asami said. “It’s just a rough patch. Even with the whole Sha-Garou business months ago, of course we’ll be scared of shadowbenders now, right?” 

"If it was anyone else coming to me about this I would have said the same thing," the master said. "But an Avatar's dreams can't be dismissed the same way. You're connected to the world in a very different way, Korra, and it speaks to you in a way it can't with us."

“You’re not saying these could mean something, are you?” Korra gulped. She didn’t want to hear what she thought Katara was trying to say. 

"I do not know the exact meaning of what's happening. But we need to stay vigilant. If something is trying to send you a message then something terrible might be happening. I would not be surprised if we hear from Sha-Garou again too. Spirits don't give up so easily. "

Korra felt her blood drain from her face. This is what she was afraid of. "So we didn't get rid of Sha-Garou after all, did we?" 

Katara shook her head. “It would appear so.” 

"So it's not over. He'll be back." She furrowed her brows, trying to think of what her dreams could be telling her, but there was no logical explanation. “And of course this had to happen two weeks before the wedding, OF COURSE.”

These dreams seemed random, like nothing more than a deep fear of the shadowbender that she had in her, especially one who looked exactly like herself. Perhaps there was nothing in the dreams themselves and it’s just pre-wedding jitters. Perhaps it was just a sign that Sha-Garou would be back and that was it. “No use in trying to decipher cryptic messages now. Let’s just make sure we’re ready for whatever happens. Thank you, Katara.” 

The old woman smiled. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, but if you ever need to talk to me more about this, you know I’m always around. See you tomorrow for the reception practice”

They said their goodbyes and headed back into the city. They should probably warn the others. 

\----------------

Later that night, with the moon full, the streets of Republic City once more vibrated with the night life as people minded their own business, not knowing what was in store…

Inside an alleyway alongside a meatpacking plant, a lone rat pigeon took notice of some raw hippo cow meat thrown out due to being out of date, deciding to take some nibbles of it, to see if it was good enough to eat.

But as it began to feast on the meat, the animal felt the wind seem to pick up slightly against the hairs on it's back, looking to slowly rise up, but it seemed to only be in the area it was at.

Then an odd purple spark near the trashcan it was perched on briefly got it’s attention… before another one formed right near the rat pigeon, getting it’s full attention.

Tilting its head, the hungry animal gave a tense look around before a purple light began to form, as did what seemed like a large moving ball of energy, also of the same color as more sparks came from it, now freaking out the animal enough to make it fly away.

But once the purple energy was gone, the alleyway looked as it did before, like nothing was out of the ordinary, except for the figure in an all black fighting uniform with odd metal looking gloves, standing where the ball of energy was.

The figure, whose face was hidden under both the hood they were wearing along with the darkness looked around the area, keeping themselves hidden as they peaked out of the alleyway, seeing from there the spirit portal in the middle of the city.

“If I’m correct, she’s here…”

Looking at the metal glove, the figure made sure it moved just fine along with also seeing on it a unique looking crystal, the same shade of purple as the energy that had formed and vanished.

Just before the figure left, they reached into the satchel it had around its upper waist and pulled out a mask, one looking to have been modeled after the face of a female doll due to it’s innocent rosy cheeks, lips painted red and the eyeliner/shadow drawn on, along with the two small buns of fake black hair on the top.

But most fetching about it were the color of the eyes of the mask, light green that shone from what light hit it, even with the two small eyeholes, not that the figure was going to have issues looking through it.

“How ironic I must wear this.” The figure said to themselves before putting it on, covering their face before they began to walk out of the alleyway.

“HEY!”

The figure stopped, internally sighing to themselves as they turned around to see two men, having looked like they were roughed up, smirking at the figure.

“Looky here Xiang, don’t this look familiar?”

“Check out the mask, it looks like we got ourselves an Amon fanboy, that’s not good Zaki.”

This perplexed the masked person, tilting their head as the two men looked to have ideas in mind, one bending what looked like gauntlets made of stone over his fists, while the other gave a whistle, a small flame forming from his mouth, moving in sync with it.

“This Equalist trash should know not to venture into Universal Elements territory, especially after that Chief of Police bitch ruined our fun earlier.” The firebender, known as Xiang as he walked behind the figure, getting a look at them as Zaki, the Earthbender, stood in front of the masked figure.

Yet, the figure actually wasn’t scared, more curious as they gave a tilt of the head at Zaki.

“So, there’s Uem’s in this one too? Why am I not surprised.”

This got looks of surprise from the two extremists at what this random figure said, Zaki looking at Xiang who looked back.

“Wait, what do you mean by-”

But before the firebender could respond, suddenly the masked figure kicked backwards right near his head, only to hook them by the back of the neck with it, performing a quick cartwheel, letting go of the firebender, sending him past the Earthbender who watched his friend crash into some wooden boxes.

One he turned around, Zaki was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder and pulled towards the figure, seeing the green eyes of the mask before they slammed their fist into his face before thrusting their other palm into his throat, before delivering a fury of strikes and kicks, all connecting to Zaki’s face, chest, neck, stomach.

With each hit, the masked figure sent the Uem all the way down to the ground before finishing with a swift axe kick to his face.

All of which was done in just twelve seconds, something which the figure had to smile at behind their mask before hearing a yell interrupting their thoughts, seeing Xiang come rushing at them, prepared to throw a punch…

… that is until the masked figure easily grabbed the fist he was preparing to hit them with and jerked it in an 80 degree angle, easily causing a compact fracture as the firebender screamed in pain at the part of bloody bone bursting out from the skin as his intended victim let go, just to enable him to look over the damage.

“My-My-MY WRIST!” He cried out, dropping to his knees, trying not to injure it anymore than it already was. “YOU RUINED IT!”

Hearing the statement resulted in the masked figure giving a small, rather amused chuckle. “Just be glad I’m going easy on you.”

Before Xiang could question what the figure even meant by those words, said figure drove their foot to the side of his head, knocking him to the ground, out of it.

With that matter taken care of, the figure with the green eyed mask turned back around at the spirit portal, thinking something to themself.

“Now to find the prime…”

With those words said, they were off into the night, knowing things were not gonna be easy from here on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do these nightmares mean, will the wedding go off without a hitch, who is the masked figure? Well, find out all... well, next chapter... in a week. Yeah, going weekly with posting new chapters. XD
> 
> Now, important news that has been the reason why this fic took so long to start, as I'm sure some of you may have noticed, I've been asking other LOK fanfic writers on the site for help. It's because Countconiine had to opt out of working on the fic due to her personal life getting too busy. While it is a deep loss, it's not without reason and I'm glad to work with such a wonderful and great writer/galpal from across the ocean. We have gotten up to around the third and final act and have had plenty of ideas how to finish it before she informed me of the news. So while her name isn't listed as this being a collab, let me clarify that this and "Blood in The Shadows" is still just as much Countconiine's fanfics as mine and she will always be credited for helping me create our own little LOK-verse.
> 
> Now, that said, I am still looking for a new co-writer to help me finish the last third of the story as I myself don't have the time to write and finish it up on my own as I too have a personal life and job. XD So if there's anyone reading this who wants to help finish this story, hit me up, we can't have it end after so much has been written! Either comment below, email me or contact me through tumblr.
> 
> My email is Hobohaymaker13 @ gmail .com (Ignore the spaces)  
> My tumblr is @anotherdeadproductions
> 
> Are you a bad enough dude/dudette to help me finish this story?


	3. Chapter Two- Blood Red Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to the amount of violence in this chapter, including some against a minor. So just a heads up.

Asami handed Korra an ice cream cone. She had been so dejected and staring at the ground that she hadn't even noticed when her fiancée wandered off to buy them. 

"Thank you," she said. Seeing the minty swirls did make her smile as mint chocolate was her favorite flavor. 

The engineer smiled back and led them across the grass, and they sat down against the trunk of a tree. The skies were clear and the sun was out, so the park wasn't exactly quiet, but at least their shady spot was a little more secluded. 

They ate their ice creams, looking out at glistening streams running through the park as they sat in each other's arms. Korra had been reluctant to go out after their talk with Katara the day before, but after they warned Lin of her dreams, Asami had practically dragged her away, trying to get her to stop worrying. 

"See?" she said, gesturing towards everything around them. "It's such a nice day. Nothing bad is happening."

Korra looked around her. "Yeah," she said. "Maybe you're right. Least we can now focus on the-"

"Avatar Korra!" 

They spun round, seeing a police officer running towards them. "Chief Beifong needs to see you at the station! There's been an arrest and they refuse to talk to anyone other than you."

"Oh, come on!" Asami exclaimed. 

Korra stood up at once. "Who is it?" 

"We don't know. They won't take their mask off."

* * *

Lin met them as they walked through the door. “Good, you’re here.” She took the two of them down to one of the holding cells. "We found someone roaming the streets asking to talk to the Avatar. They refused to take the mask off. Something about their customs. After what you told us, we couldn't take chances so we apprehended them.

Korra gulped. Her worry was rising, and she tried to keep her fear of the shadow spirit hidden, but the dreams had been so horrific she didn't know what to expect.

Through the bars they saw the overly clothed figure sitting down on the bed, face hidden behind a green eyed mask. When it heard them approach, it looked up. 

"So you're the one I'm looking for," it said, standing up and walking up to the bars. It spoke in a woman's voice. They couldn’t pinpoint it, but it sounded so familiar, the mask muffling her voice not helping. 

"Stay back!" Lin yelled. 

Mako, Bolin and Opal were making their way up, having also been called. 

The figure held its hands up in defeat. "I'm not who you should be scared of, Lin." 

The Chief frowned. She had never given it her name. "So you know my name, do you? What are you? Another kind of spirit?"

"No, no-"

Korra's nerves were building up. The mention of spirits didn't help. "Do you have anything to do with Sha-Garou?" She got close to the bars. "Do you?!" 

"Sort of, I-"

Korra banged on the bars loudly. "Why are you here? We defeated you once, why won't you leave us alone?"

The room fell silent after her outburst. She took heavy breaths. 

"Didn't plan on doing this so soon... but..."

The figure brought her hand up to where her face would be. She then started sliding the hood and mask off her head, letting her long wavy raven hair fall free.

Korra's breath hitched. She stared at the figure, frozen.

Standing in front of her was her bride-to-be.

" _A-Asami?_ " She looked back and forth rapidly, from the Asami behind the bars to the one she had walked here with, who was just as surprised. 

"I wanted to explain. Sha-Garou, he-"

The Avatar's thoughts were racing. This wasn't Asami. There was no way. It must have been another shadow spirit playing tricks on her. Her memories drifted back to the other shadow spirit she met, Khu-Shui, shapeshifting in front of her back in the spirit world. This was another sick trick. "You're not Asami." She gripped the metal bars tightly. "You can't fool us. Show yourself, spirit!"

The "fake" Asami stood patiently, waiting for Korra to calm down. After a few moments, realizing nothing was happening, the Avatar let go of the bars, letting her arms fall by her sides. 

"How? Oh Ravaa, how?!" she asked. 

"As I was saying," The Asami behind the bars said. "Sha-Garou isn't dead. He's corrupted someone else, but not from your world. He has the ability to traverse between universes, just like I do." She held up her hand, showing the purple crystal on her glove. "He is building up power, stealing it from Avatars, different you’s from other worlds because he..." she paused for a moment, her tone turning to sadness, "He corrupted _you._ " 

Korra frowned. "Me?"

The new Asami nodded. "The Korra from my universe. It’s not a complete takeover, but… I've seen what he’s done to her. He, she, both won't stop until they destroy the other Avatars, and take their power.”

"Other worlds? What is this crap?" Lin rolled her eyes as the jailed Asami turned to her in similar disbelief. 

"If it wasn't true, how could I be here Lin? Answer me that!" 

Korra took a step back from the cell. Asami kept an eye on her, making sure she wasn't too overwhelmed. She knew her fiancé was in a fragile mood ever since waking up in the middle of the night after having nightmare.

But even just the idea of another version of herself, let alone actually seeing her, too made Asami frightened.

"We can deal with you later," Korra said.

The Asami behind bars furrowed her brows. "What?"

Korra shook her head, turning her back and walking away. "Whatever you are, you can wait. You're not Sha-Garou." She stopped and looked back at the real Asami. "You coming? We're gonna be late to the practice."

"Y-Yeah." The engineer took one last look at the prisoner before following Korra out.

The crew looked at each other. It felt like the Avatar was running away from whatever was happening just because it was getting too much for her and she needed the distraction. 

"But this is urgent!" The new Asami called out after the couple. She let out a sigh and sat back on the bed, seeing that everyone else was also ignoring her now. Lin brought two new guards to watch her cell, and the rest of the crew dispersed. 

She hung her head, looking down at her hands, feeling her eyes begin to water. If they didn't believe her now, they will soon. She was sure of it.

* * *

Despite the detour to the police station they still made it to the restaurant in good time. The tables were all set up with decorated table cloths and carefully picked flower arrangements on each. The walls were draped with curtains embroidered with a mixture of watertribe and fire nation threads. 

"Miss Sato!" One of the wedding planners came up to them, a clipboard in his hand. "Everything is set up as planned! We just need the final approval from the two of you before we can begin."

Asami took a look around the spacious room. Everything was falling into place nicely. "I think it's all good. What do you think, Korra?" She looked at the Avatar. Her fiance was staring into space and she didn't seem to have heard her. "Korra?"

"Huh?" She snapped back to reality, turning to Asami. 

"What do you think?" 

"Oh." She took a look around. Everything looked great. Letting Asami be the brains behind this was definitely turning out to have been a good idea. "Yeah. It's really nice."

The wedding planner bowed his head. "I'm glad to hear. I'll let the others know you're happy with the arrangements." He walked away, fixing a bouquet of flowers on his way.

They walked around the venue for a little while, taking everything in, familiarizing themselves with the setting. The rest of the crew had showed up shortly too, with some of the guests too. It didn't take long to organize everybody, showing everyone to their seats. 

Tenzin's family and Katara all sat together, and Meelo had already sneezed on one of the handkerchiefs. The wedding planner held in a gasp of panic, but Korra and Asami chuckled. They already expected to have to replace many of the cloth’s. 

They made sure everyone was happy with their seating plan. Suyin's family would all be together, as well as Kya next to Lin. Mako was also welcome to bring Thuy, and they sat all together with Bolin and Opal. It seemed like everything would run smoothly. 

The couple's attention was drawn to the entrance. One more guest made her away across the floor. She stood awkwardly for a few moments. 

"Kuvira," Korra said, walking up to her. "You made it." 

She nodded. "They let me come after all." The metalbender looked around the beautiful room. After spending so much time under house arrest, it was nice to see something so special. "Thanks for the invite," she added. "So where, err..." she knew full well she hadn't made peace with so many people there. "Where will you have me sit?" 

Asami walked up too. "Don't worry. Suyin has already asked that you sit with her family."

Kuvira smiled, looking over at her adoptive parent. Suyin waved when she saw her. "Thank you." It wasn't much, but it was nice to feel like she was slowly regaining the Beifong's trust after Gaoling, Bataar Jr. more slowly than the others, but it was a start.

The couple went over some last minute arrangements before finally relaxing. Looking out at the floor filling up with the people they cared so much for, it was almost easy to forget about the mysterious prisoner back at the police station who bore resemblance to one of the brides. 

Until someone came running into the restaurant. 

“Help!” The waiter yelled. “There’s someone out in the city trying to hurt people!” He was stuttering a little, and his voice was shaking. 

Lin stood up at once. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! I just-” he covered his face with his hands as he cowered against the wall. “I just ran! But the screams, and the laughter!”

“Shit.” Korra muttered. 

“Let’s go!” Lin yelled, rushing out. The crew followed her into the city. 

All Korra could think of was that she should have listened to the Asami back at the station. 

* * *

The Asami from the other universe looked at the two guards through the bars. They had their backs to her, watching the corridor. She had to make it out of there. There was no time left.

Then a sudden feeling rushed through her head, something that was getting her attention as her light green eyes were frozen open as Asami knew what it was.

 _She_ was here.

“Psst.” One of the guards leaned towards the other. “You really think that’s Asami Sato from another universe?” he whispered. 

“Fuck no, got to be some kind of dumb spirit taking her form!”

“Shut up. She'll hear you and get mad.”

“Mad?”

“Yeah, got word that some Uems were brought in the hospital, badly messed up by someone wearing the same mask as her.” He glanced behind him to check on her. His eyes widened. “SHIT! The prisoner’s gone!”

The other guard spun round. He looked everywhere around the cell, even behind him. “Search the-” He began to bellow down the corridor, only for Asami’s arm to wrap around his neck from behind, with the woman from the other universe backhanding the other guard in the face, knocking him out.

All while slowly making the guard she held onto pass out in her arm, succeeding in doing so, dropping him softly.

“Sorry about that, boys.” She said before looking around and rushing off, knowing exactly where Korra and the others were.

* * *

Rushing out as fast as they could, Korra and Asami ran out of the building, seeing the extent of damage done on the streets.

Satomobiles destroyed and on fire, people running in fright, tripping over their own feet to get away from the chaos, some corpses on the ground, storefronts wrecked.

“Oh no…” Korra said, seeing it all unfold in front of her, instantly regretting not taking more of the word of the alternative version of her soon to be wife as the others arrived.

“Hey guys, what are we- WOAH!” Bolin yelled out, seeing the carnage.

“Korra, is this being done by-” Lin began to ask before seeing a large delivery truck fly towards them, forcing her, Korra and Thuy to use their metalbending to stop it in place, seeing it’s scared driver clutching the wheel as hard as he could, still freaked out as he saw who saved him, Korra needing answers now.

“Who's doing this? Where are they?”

But the driver was still silent, looking right at the Avatar, having just seen… someone who looked similar to her doing all of this.

But before he could respond, bursting out of his mouth was a sharp tentacle looking to have been made of the shadow he was casting, smashing through the windshield as blood and glass burst all over the three metal benders.

“AH, BLOODY FUCK!” Thuy cried out as not just some blood got on her, but a piece of glass cut her upper arm, forcing her to pull out her bending, holding onto the wound as Mako rushed to her, with Korra and Lin forced to let the vehicle down as they checked on her.

“You okay, Thuy?” Her boyfriend asked as she tore a piece of her sleeve to cover the wound for the time being.

“Nothing I hadn't handled before, what just happened?!”

“Oh, sorry about that!”

Everyone looked where the voice rang from in front of them, some surprised to hear it, some in disbelief, and one in denial, hoping it wasn’t what they thought it was.

But to Korra’s horror, there she saw who was behind the carnage, walking towards them, a shadowy looking figure with their arms out, seeing the shadows moving around the form like it was living, two evil looking red eyes focused on them all.

“That… is that?...” Asami asked, surprised as much as seeing her other self to see another version of her lover, who nodded without a word.

“Is this too much?” The figure smirked, seeing some metalbending cops rush onto the scene, quickly thrusting their hand out towards them.

But instead of shadows, fire erupted from its fingertips. But not just any regular fire, but the flames were blue, engulfing the cops in them to the others disgust and horror, the figure turning back to look at them as if nothing happened.

“Or is it not enough? I just can’t decide.”

Kya, knowing the danger involved, rushed over to the officers still on fire, one having perished while another stumbled around, his back on fire as she tried to use her waterbending to put it out. But the figure let her be, keeping her attention on the others, mainly Korra.

“While she’s busy, may as well get back to business…” It said before the shadows around it’s form began to slide away off of it, or rather her, sinking back into others being cast, showing her true self.

It was exactly who Korra had been seeing in her dreams, or what she thought were just dreams.

Standing there for everyone to see was indeed a second Korra, one responsible for the destruction of the area, but she looked different. One side of her hair looked normal as it fell loose, when the other side had been braided in cornrows, blending with the rest of it in the back.

Her choice of attire looked similar to Korra’s own that she normally wore back in her home, but its colors were practically gone, all black except the fur which was red instead of white.

And the look on the doppelgangers face, it was one Korra remembered seeing months ago, when Sha-Garou showed her that vision of her murdering Guan. The look of someone who relished in seeing the suffering they gave.

“Nice to formally meet you… me.” This dark Korra said, her voice dripping with the same amount of evil her eyes showed as the Avatar herself could only just form three words as the others got in battle formation.

“It can’t be…”

“OH, but it is. Here you are, good little, flawed Korra. And here I am, bad little… perfect Korra.”

“No you’re not!” Asami yelled out, busting out her electric gloves, ready to fight for her lover, even if against another version of her. “You’re a sick twisted version warped by that damn spirit!”

“Wow!” The Dark Korra said, giving a bit of a surprising smile, rather amused at this. “Hit the nail on the head right there! Even then, you were always the smarter of us two. It’s just too bad-”

“HEY!”

Everyone’s attention turned to, of all people, Meelo coming out of the restaurant, along with the rest of his family and some of the other guests. “Better stop this or else we’re gonna kick your butt!”

Dark Korra rather surprisingly gave a groan at this display of bravery. “Oh, delightful, here I was hoping this universe didn’t have your little annoying ass.” She said in a snide manner, not liking being interrupted, turning back to Korra, not even looking at him as she waved Meelo off. “Go back to the kids table, the adults are talking.”

“Meelo, control- NO!” Tenzin yelled out as Meelo, feeling the harsh insult, came at Dark Korra, blasting a burst of air at her, only for her to suddenly sink into her shadow to the young airbenders' surprise.

But that was replaced by another sense of surprise when he felt his leg grabbed by a hand belonging to the corrupted version of the Avatar, who swung him around as hard as she could, right into the back corner of the delivery truck from earlier, a brutal crack heard as he collided elbow first.

“AHH!” the young airbender screamed in pain on the ground, seeing the slightly off angle his arm bent, something Dark Korra had to give a rather… cathartic looking smile at.

“You have no idea how long i wanted to do-” She said before Tenzin himself came at her, seeking to stop her after what she’d done to his son as his family checked on him.

But even a master of airbending like Tenzin was no match as Dark Korra waved her arm, causing what looked like water mixed with black ink to burst out of a nearby shadow, splashing the airbender backwards, giving her an opening.

“And here the student becomes the MASTER!” She yelled out as she rolled forward, driving both of her feet up into his stomach, sending him into the air before bending up a shadow claw and slashed upwards, aiming for the stomach.

Yet that didn’t happen as a large slab of cement formed up in between, blocking the attack as Ikki and Jinora made the save, getting their father away.

“Now that’s just rude Bo…” Dark Korra hissed, turning her head towards Bolin, who had saved Tenzin before rushing at him, ready to slash him up. “COME HERE LOVER BOY!”

Luckily for them, this gave him and the crew a heads up as they got out of the way of the attack, with the corrupted Avatar trying to get an inch at them, laughing and mocking them.

During all of this, Katara had just got to the entrance, both her son and grandson brought to her to heal. But before she could, there she saw Korra and her friends trying to avoid their opponent's attacks.

And like everyone else, she too was shocked to see the one causing all of this destruction was another Korra, her old eyes widened at the sight of her shadowbending.

“Come on, don’t run, just wanna have some fun with you guys!”

With that, Dark Korra grasped both of her hands together, causing more shadow tentacles to come out of the shadows, grasping onto everyone in some form of way, making her laugh at her work, seeing that indeed her other self had easily managed to slip out, ready to fight.

“I’m not scared of you, I know it’s me you want.”

Dark Korra shrugged as she closed her eyes, opening them back up to show her natural Cyan colored ones.

“First one out of, give me a second…” She began, mockingly counting something up in her mind, before nodding with a sick smile on her face. “Fifty something me’s to figure that out, good on you!”

The idea of a wicked copycat of herself with the ability to shadowbend taking both the power and life of another had already scared Korra, but knowing that at least 50 of them fell to Dark Korra, that caught her by surprise, which meant one thing.

“Fifty something, you mean there’s-”

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot how naïve I used to be. Multiverse theory, it can be a bitch, like me.”

With that, Dark Korra suddenly rushed towards her good self, slashing at her chest, just only giving a minor scratch due to her target jumping back quick enough.

Realizing how powerful her opponent was, it scared Korra, scared to know this version of her gained her power from so many versions of herself. Then the thought of what kind of versions of her were slain came to mind.

“You... how can you do this, how can you allow Sha-Garou to do this to you?!” She cried out, looking around to see her friends and loved ones struggle against the shadow tentacles, then at who was responsible. “You’re supposed to be the Avatar, protector of the Four Nations! Not some monster who takes power from other forms of you! Spirits, you even killed a younger version of us!”

That burst of anger filled words however made the Dark Korra a bit curious as seen by the look on her face.

“What, how did you know about that?” She asked, her calculating eyes looking at her target before something rang in her own mind before it got her attention. “Wait a second… you’re the prime.”

Hearing that made Korra the most confused she’s been since she had been getting her nightmares, trying to find a response. “Th-The what?” 

But she never got the answer at the moment before suddenly metal cuffs flung around Dark Korra’s wrists, catching her by surprise as she looked to see Kuvira arriving on the scene.

The evil Avatar attempted to bend them off, but couldn’t to more of her surprise.

“Did you forget something? Platinum’s a pain to bend unless you know how.” The former leader of the Earth Empire said, preparing to fight. "Unless you forgot to."

But a wicked laughter rang out from Dark Korra, her eyes turning red once more before blowing some blue flames out of her mouth, careful not to harm herself as she melted some of the cuffs until it was enough to break free.

“And did you forget something? I'm the Avatar…”

Before Kuvira could react in any other way besides surprise, a shadow tentacle burst through her shoulder, lifting her up in the air, making the former enemy of Korra scream in pain as Dark Korra quickly sent out another tentacle around her good self’s throat, dragging her struggling self close to get a good view.

“And you have to _deal_ with it.” Dark Korra said with that damn smile on her face, looking from a pained Kuvira to a gasping Korra. “Before I take your energy, let me show you what should have been done with this Earth Empire bitch.”

Turning back to Kuvira, who tried to move off of the sharp tentacle sticking out of her, Dark Korra raised her hand up, forming a single pointed shadow finger, pointing it towards Kuvira’s right eye.

"Credit where it's due, at least you're taking this more bravely than _Guan_ did.” She said, inching it ever so close to a still fighting Kuvira’s right eye…

“KORRA! STOP!”

Both Korra’s heard the sound of Asami calling out, but not in the direction they thought as on their right was the engineer just managing to slip out of the Shadow Tentacle that’s been holding her in place.

But on their left was where the voice came from, something that surprised even Dark Korra who, along with the good Korra, looked and saw the other Asami, having finally caught up to the madness.

Out of everyone, Dark Korra was the one who was the most caught off guard, amazement on her face as she let both Korra and Kuvira go, the former checking up on the latter, trying to quickly heal her as Bataar Jr. rushed to his former lover's aid.

The Asami who had came to this world looked at the corrupted version of her lover, the woman who had proposed to her, the one who had… committed such horrible acts, but she wasn’t scared of what her Korra had become, nor caring about the look of sincere interest in Dark Korra’s eyes, having turned back to their Cyan as she got closer.

“A-Asami… but…”

“Before I’m about to make a very painful choice Korra…” The alternative Asami began, taking a deep breath, a look of sadness forming as she took her by the hands.

“I’ll give you one chance. Please, stop this madness, I know what he’s offered you and you took it, but… you have to end this, let this Korra get him out of you.”

But all the shadowbending Avatar could do was look at her Asami, something confusing her as she ignored his voice telling her to kill her there and then. “But…” Just then, a thought came to mind… and it made perfect sense.

“... what about _you?_ ”

“What?” The Alternative Asami asked.

“If I recall right, I made sure no one back home could stop me, not even you.” Dark Korra’s voice rang out as Korra and Asami, who had come over to help give Kuvira over to Bataar Jr., watched the two versions of themselves talk. “So let me ask you this...”

With that, a lash was heard as a shadow tentacle connected with the back of the other Asami’s jacket, distracting her just enough for Dark Korra to turn her around on her knees by her hands, giving her and everyone a good look at the torn red top under the jacket…

And under it the five massive scars on the alternative Asami's back, stretching out from her lower back to the top left shoulder near her neck.

“HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!” Dark Korra’s voice rang out for everyone to hear, her eyes turning red in rage, wanting to know the truth.

Sadly for the different Asami, this was the outcome she didn’t want to happen as she closed her eyes tightly, tears slowly forming from them.

“... I’m so sorry.” was all she could say to her former lover…

Before out of nowhere, a newly formed _shadow hand_ grabbed Dark Korra by the back of her hair and threw her against a stone wall, shocking not just Korra and Asami who had witnessed this, but the shadowbending Avatar herself, who ignored the pain, her own red eyes in shock at what just happened as she watched her own Asami stand back up, the scarred back to her before turning around…

Opening her sorrowful eyes to show them _turn from her natural light green to GLOWING BLOOD RED._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah, not only is the villain a shadowbending Korra from a alternative universe, but who saw HER coming and THAT ENDING coming either? Show of hands, be honest. XD More to come next week. And YES, still looking for that new co-writer for the third act, help a writer out!


	4. Chapter Three- From One Universe to Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just would like to note that the search for the new co-writer is still happening! If you wanna help, comment below!

The Dark Avatar’s shadows froze, and the crew stared at the new Asami. She wielded the shadows just as Sha-Garou had and swung at Dark Korra with a long shadow arm. The invader snapped back just in time to dodge out of the way before snarling. She glared at her old fiancé with hatred.

“So that’s how you lived.” Her tone dripped with venom.

The now shadowbending Asami caught her breath. She heaved another shadow tentacle towards her, but Dark Korra sidestepped out of its way. Her aim was a little clumsy. 

“Ha! You’re not a bender. You don’t stand a chance.”

Seeing her distracted, Korra jumped at the opportunity, hurling a ball of fire towards the Dark Avatar. She caught off guard and she didn’t have time to block, stumbling off balance as the flames hit her. 

She spun round, but before she could grab Korra with a shadow tentacle, her arm was gripped by another shadow appendage, holding it still as she struggled against it. 

“I’m getting the hang of it,” The red eyed Asami called out, before trying to use another shadow to grab Dark Korra’s other arm. Her hold on her was a little weak, and she was about to wriggle out. 

“You can’t hold me ba-ARGH!” A jolt of electricity coursed through Dark Korra’s body. Her muscles spasmed but she fought against it, turning and shoving this world’s Asami away from her. She breathed heavily, looking around her out of the corner of her eyes.

After getting distracted and losing control of her shadows, she became surrounded. The fallen Avatar's face contorted in anger. “This isn’t the last time you’ll see me,” she hissed, before disappearing into the shadows. 

The newer Asami didn’t want to let her go. She was about to go after her when Korra called out to her.

“Don’t go!” She was almost out of breath. “She’s too strong like this. You can’t fight her.”

The shadowbender hesitated, and before long noticed the flash of purple light down the street. Dark Korra was gone. At least they managed to get her to retreat. 

The Avatar looked around. There were quite a few wounded, but Katara and Kya were leading them away, doing their best to deal with their wounds. They were in good hands, no doubt. She turned towards her fiancé. 

“Are you alright?” 

Asami nodded, wiping a trickle of sweat off her temple trying to catch her breath.

“Now you believe me,” the alternate Asami said, walking up to the two, her eyes turning back to normal. "You saw what's been happening across the other universes. You heard how many too."

Korra's heart dropped, reminded of what she heard. This Asami was right, but it was still so hard to believe that there were other universes out there, and that somehow Sha-Garou could travel between them. She didn't say anything, still trying to process everything. 

Then there was the fact that this Asami from the same universe as this newly evil Korra was too a shadowbender, something which didn't go unnoticed.

"I bet you have a lot of questions," This Asami said. "I can explain everything." The rest of the crew walked up to them. They also heard what was going on. 

"Let's go sit down somewhere," Lin said. She crossed her arms and motioned towards the restaurant with her head. 

The streets had emptied as people fled, and the restaurant workers and the wedding planners dipped as soon as they heard the commotion. It was for the better. The destruction wasn't small. 

They sat down around one of the tables. The joyful decorations felt out of place now. 

They had so many questions they barely knew where to start. Korra was the first to speak. 

"What did she mean? When she asked how are you alive?" 

The Asami from the other universe let out a sigh as sadness crossed her face. “In our universe, My Korra destroyed almost everything out of revenge for what Guan did."

Then she put her hand on her shoulder where the scar on her back began.

"She thought she had killed me, and she would have. I was slowly dying, bleeding out when she left. It was then that Khu-Shui found me." She kept going, seeing the crew's eyes widened as she knew they met the spirit before. "The Khu-Shui from _my_ universe, not yours."

Korra however immediately thought back to the vision Sha-Garou showed her where she had killed Guan in cold blood with her bare fists. It sent a shiver down her spine knowing that in another universe it came true, and it was much worse. 

"She's doing this just because of Guan?" she said. 

Asami closed her eyes for a second. Images of what had happened in their universe flashed before her eyes. The moment was burned into her memory along with the septic smell of the hospital. The moment her Korra lost it. "Initially," she said. "But I believe Sha-Garou carried on corrupting her more and more."

"Wait a moment, how could this be? He perished after Korra got him out of Hattori." Mako pointing out a detail in the story that didn't sit right. "You're saying he isn't gone, just hopped over to your guys universe?"

"Yes and no. At the same time in my universe, as Korra energybended him out of Hattori, Sha-Garou knew his other self, from yours, was receiving the same treatment and tried to escape." The other Asami sighed, noticing two similar glasses left on the table. "Ever heard of a theory of going into the past and harming a single insect and suddenly everything in the future is changed in some form of way?"

"My grandma told me something like that." Thuy answered as Asami nodded, raising the two glasses.

"Right. I believe that was the moment our universes split off from each other. In your universe, you guys got rid of your Sha-Garou." She explained before putting one glass down and focusing on the other. "But in my universe, since Sha-Garou must have had some form of hive mind expanding to at least your universe, he tried escaping, Hattori dying in the process. And that forced my Korra to do the only move she could do…"

Then the one Asami looked at Korra. "She _willingly_ became his host."

The Avatar couldn't believe what she was hearing, that her other self actually accepted to become the host of an evil spirit.

"But why?"

"Because she knew what he was capable of, yet she had no reason to give him what he wanted." The other Asami answered, remembering what her own fiancé told her sometime after it happened. "Even as he begged her to use his power, she didn't listen, she had no need for revenge… at least at the time."

Then with a sigh, she continued more. "Now, on his own, Sha-Garou can't fully take over an Avatar. Which is why he's making her steal the energy of other you's as with each Avatar, he becomes more powerful, and now I..." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "And now I don't think there's hope for her to fight back. We just have to defeat her."

"And how might we do that?" Lin asked. "She's as powerful as all of us combined, if not more. And if what you're saying is true, she's only getting more powerful."

"Then we need to as well." The alternative Asami held up her hand, showing everyone the crystal on her metal glove. "We need to visit the other universes and round up whoever's left to help us fight. It's our only chance. I've never taken anyone else with me across dimensions but I think it should work."

"Think?" Bolin said. "Could it... liquify us?" He raised an eyebrow, eyeing the strange crystal. 

"Well..." she thought for a moment, making the crew more and more nervous. "I don't think so."

"That's not a no."

"It's also not a yes," she continued. "It works by changing the frequency our particles are vibrating at, taking us into a different world, ones different from yours and mine. Like tuning to a different radio station. If we all link up then the waves from the crystal should flow through everybody, and bring everyone with me together."

"And if it doesn't?" Korra asked. 

The other Asami hesitated. "Only one way to find out."

Lin groaned. "Just what we needed. A potential liquifying device."

"It won't liquify you! I hope."

The crew looked at each other for a few moments, thinking in silence. She was right though. It really was their only hope. 

"I say we do it," Korra said. 

"If you're in, then I'm in," Her fiancé added. 

Mako looked from Bolin and Opal to Thuy. "Then we're in too."

Lin rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, what choice do I have then? Fine."

The alternative universe Asami smiled, the first one she’s gotten to do in a long time. “Brilliant. Then we best get prepping.” 

* * *

While the crew and their newest, if temporary, member had all agreed to put a stop to the mad Avatar’s existence, in yet another universe, a familiar burst of purple energy formed in the temples of what seemed like the Air Nomads.

Just then, a blackened shape fell out of it as the energy vanished, leaving only the shadowbending Avatar on her hands and knees, breathing heavily as her eyes were widened at what she witnessed.

“How?! Why would she do it, why would Asami become a shadowbender herself!” She growled, pounding the ground in anger, only for a familiar voice to ring out in her head.

 _“Simple, she seeks to end your quest, to become the one and only Avatar of all the universes…”_ The voice of Sha-Garou said in it’s wicked tone, though admittingly just as surprised as she was. _“Though I must admit, it is quite ballsy of her to dare become what she’s scared most of.”_

“I saw her eyes, she…” Dark Korra began, remembering how saddened her former lover was at having to reveal what she had become. “She didn’t wanna do it.”

_“But she did and now we have yet ANOTHER problem… seems like our old friend Khu-Shui decided to throw her hat into the game, as you humans say.”_

The former Avatar remembered when she first met the shadow spirit in its domain, with how playful she was, but also all knowing, seeming to know a lot herself.

“You’re saying that she came to Asami as she was bleeding out and offered her the same deal you made?” She asked.

 _“I don’t think so. Me and that useless worm that I'm sickened to call one of my kind never got along, then again, she was always the weak minded of my kind…”_ Sha-Garou said, annoyed at this. _“Point being, she’s now assisting the Prime herself, which is a very bad thing, especially that if she and that bitch of your ex-”_

“DON’T CALL HER THAT!” Dark Korra interrupted with an angry yell before catching herself, realizing what she just said. Something which the shadow spirit took note of, but choose not to push forward.

 _“... that if she and your ex had managed to follow us here, more than likely with the_ _Uchū Crystal, she can do the same with the Prime.”_

Realizing that things were going to become much harder now, Dark Korra shook her head, forming an idea.

“Okay then, then I’ll just get stronger. Find me this universe’s me, take her power, then go from there.”

_“And what if Asami, the Prime and her friends just happen to come by?”_

Dark Korra smirked, her eyes turning red once more as she bended up a shadow claw. “Then I’ll just have to improvise…” Just then, she took note of the area as it reminded her of the old temples the Airbenders used to reside in before Sozin had them exterminated.

Yet, something was off, getting her attention. “Something about this universe looks strange to you?”

It was then she saw a statue of a figure, bending a blue flame to light up the area to see it better, but it didn’t look like an airbending monk per say, it had similar robes along with its pose, but instead of an arrow carved into their heads to show off the tattoos of who they were, it looked more like flames.

_“I think this universe took a more… interesting different route than ours and the Prime’s…”_

* * *

Knowing they were about to make what was obviously a dangerous choice, especially since they were going against an darker and more dangerous version of their most powerful ally, the crew had to get some things in order before making the leap with the Asami from the different universe.

“Thuy, I have to ask you something.” Mako asked when he and his girlfriend were alone, preparing some supplies in the apartment they had just gotten today in recent weeks, getting the metalbender’s attention.

“Sure love, what?”

“Are… are you sure you wanna do this?”

“Wha-What?” She asked, initially confused by the question.

“I mean, are you sure you can handle this?” Mako reiterated as the mohawked girl looked at him with that coy smile of hers.

“Course, no scratch to my arm is gonna hinder me.” Thuy said, raising up her arm, showing the bandage over the cut she got earlier, only to notice that her boyfriend wasn’t just being serious for the sake of it. “Wait, where are you getting at?”

The firebender sighed, looking at the burned scar tissue on his arm he had gotten years before when trying to bring down Kuvira’s platinum mecha. He remembered all the healing and rehabilitation, mental, physical and spiritual, it took for him to finally be able to firebend out of it again.

“Thuy, this ain’t just some normal day of roughing up some drunks at work or even helping us with Uems…” He began before looking into her brown eyes as he held her hand, trying to still process it. “This is like, serious, end of the world stuff, I’ve dealt with Amon, Korra’s crazy uncle, Red Lotus, the Earth Empire, twice, and all sorts of spirits, both good and evil. Some of that stuff, it still scares me today.”

The girl from Zaofu listened as her boyfriend kept on going. “Now, we’re not just talking shadow spirits, which I can tell you from past experience, is not fun, but also alternative realities, with perhaps the worst kind of spirit possessing another version of the most powerful person in the world… I’m…”

Mako tried to put his thoughts into words, knowing while Thuy could hold her own, some things she has never dealt with before. “I’m scared something bad could happen to you and I don’t know if I could live with dragging you into it if that happens. I said it, I'm scared.”

The metalbender’s face held innocence for once, seeing how Mako was, holding him by his chin with her hand before putting on a small smile.

“This is because we’re dealing with an evil version of your ex-girlfriend, isn’t it?”

That seemingly out of nowhere remark caught Mako off guard. “Thuy, I’m serious!”

“I know, and I’m thankful you are.” Thuy said, giving a nod as she grabbed some clothes besides Mako. “I admit, this is new territory for me, I only came into your life months ago cause the freakin’ Equalist Ripper indirectly got us to meet. I’m still getting used to being friends with the Avatar, but you know something…”

Then the metal bender gave Mako a hug, but not one of her usual tight hugs that she knew her love secretly loved, but a more calmer, softer hug, her head in his chest.

“My grandmother before she passed away, the old bird told me that even when things are at their worst, when it’s the perfect time to be scared, frightened, petrified, it’s alright to feel those emotions.”

Hearing these kinds of words from someone the firebender has grown used to being quite blunt and rather cheeky was quite a surprise, seeing her look up into his eyes.

“But at the same time, she said to not let them hold you back, to face the problem, even if you get hurt, to never back down.” She continued. “I never back down from a scrap, and if I have to go against some crazy psycho version of the fuckin’ Avatar, who just happens to be an old girlfriend of yours, then so be it. Long as you’re by my side, I'll keep fighting till my bones are knackered and collapse.”

Hearing all of that did make Mako feel more of what he felt about the metalbender, he knew for certain that she wouldn’t leave his side or back out. But what got to him was how she put it, it sounded almost like something he would have said.

In more colorful terms he normally wouldn’t use, but close enough, and it put a happy smile on his face.

“You just wanna get back at a version of Korra, don’t you?”

That got him that mischievous smile of the fighter along with a wink.

“Hey love, you said it, not me.”

Later on, another member of the crew, Bolin stood in the bathroom in his brother’s apartment, him and Opal having already gotten ready and came by to see if Mako or Thuy needed any help.

While his own girlfriend was helping, he made up the excuse of needing to use the little benders room, not because he had to go, but because a lot of thoughts were going through his mind, even before this whole deal with different dimensions, evil Korra and shadowbending Asami happened.

Bolin looked at himself in the mirror over the sink, it had been years since he was the silly earth bending pro-bender that provided jokes with the cute Fire Ferret, he’d experienced various sorts of wars, witnessed things he’d rather forget, Bolin had changed in various ways.

But one of the changes he was the most happy with was his relationship with Opal. Ever since the day they met, he knew there was something about her and after everything, he was thankful everyday that he was with the Zaofu born Airbender.

Even when things went wrong, the idea of Opal caring for him and his love for her got him through.

He then looked down at the sink at his hands, one of them clenched.

With a deep breath and a loud sigh, Bolin looked back into the mirror and slapped himself in the face to motivate himself.

“Ow…”

Okay, maybe _not_ the best form of motivation, but it got Bolin perked, he was gonna do this, he was gonna do something that’s been on his mind for a long while.

“Hey, Opal, mind coming here for a second? It’s important!”

He had asked this after opening the bathroom door and poking his head out, seeing his airbending girlfriend notice and come over.

“What’s up Bo?”

Just then, a sudden feeling in his gut seemed to have just sputtered him out, enough that it changed what he was going to say to her.

“Crazy question, what kind of weird stuff do you think we’re gonna see in these different universes?”

While his face had his classic look of goofy naïveness, in his mind, Bolin was cursing himself out for screwing up what he really wanted to ask.

Not that Opal herself seemed to notice, giving it a quick thought. “Oh, I'm sure many weird things, like maybe one where we’re all some sort of animals! I can see you as a wolfcat!”

“A wolfcat, really?” Bolin responded with, noting the rather odd choice. “Kinda pictured myself more of a regular old bear.”

“To be honest, kinda only said that cause that’s what I picture your brother, so kind of goes without saying.”

“I see. Well, I can see you as a lovely fair cat owl.” Bolin said, picturing his girlfriend as such to which got the airbender so happy to hear.

“OH, yes! Like Aunt Lin and Kya’s! I love it!” Opal beamed out, reaching for a hug and kiss until Thuy’s voice rang out from the other room.

“Oy, Opal dear, need your point of view on something!”

“Coming!” Opal yelled back before looking at her boyfriend. “We’ll talk more later, my cute little Wolfcat.” She said before giving a poke of her finger onto Bolin’s nose as he blushed watching her leave.

“Kay…”

Once she was gone, Bolin groaned to himself, moving the hand that was still clenched from behind the door it was hidden behind and opened it, showing the _small black felt box he wanted to present her_ with in his hand.

“Damnit Bolin, next time.” He muttered to himself, pocketing it.

* * *

In another part of the city, over at the home of Korra and Asami, the engineer herself was tinkering with her electric glove, making sure it was fine tuned, while catching glimpses of Korra interacting with Lin, Kya and Katara.

It was obvious to Asami that her wife to be was leading the charge in this interdimensional journey alongside this different version of herself, a shadowbender nonetheless, and Lin had already volunteered.

Kya herself offered her services to help as a healer, which Lin was at first against, saying too many people were coming along at this point and Korra would do fine, but it was obvious to everyone that Lin was worried about her lover getting hurt.

But the master waterbender convinced the metalbender that they’re gonna need all the help they could get, and that she was going cause she didn’t want to see Lin hurt.

That sealed the deal for the Chief, who finally relented and agreed to her coming along.

It made Asami happy to see, not just because of the help, but also due to always liking to see Lin and Kya together, they seemed to be the opposites in personality, but it was clear that they had more things in common and cared for each other dearly.

Something which reminded the heiress of her relationship with Korra. They didn’t have the best beginning, but both became close friends, then realized their true feelings for each other, and now, they were going to get married.

Of course, being in a relationship with the Avatar opens its own well of troubles, including now having to deal with a corrupted version of her soon-to-be wife from a different dimension. One whose mind was poisoned by a foe they thought they had defeated, one who gave in after _something_ happened…

This factoid had been the thing most bugging Asami, then turning her attention to her alternative self, currently keeping to herself at a table, having borrowed one of her old jackets and tops to replace the torn up ones, looking over the green eyed masked Asami remembered her wearing in the cell to cover her identity.

There was more that happened with this other Asami, one who had been forced to become something she wasn’t after what happened with her Korra.

“Hey…”

The Asami looking at the mask looked up to her side, her attention breaking to focus on her other self standing next to her. “Ah… hi.”

“Would you mind if I…” Asami asked, pointing at the seat next to her doppelganger, who nodded, to which she sat next to her, curious at the doll-like mask. “That’s a beautiful mask, ah...“ She began to talk more, trailing off as she couldn’t think of a proper name to respond to this version of herself with.

Something which didn’t escape the shadowbender. “Just call me Sami if it helps.” She said with a small smirk.

“Oh, thank the spirits, you have no idea how hard it was trying to think of something to refer to you as.” Asami said, feeling some weight off her shoulders as Sami smiled more, looking at the mask.

“Right. This mask…”

Then memories began to go through the shadowbender’s mind, of how she got the mask, when it was given to her. “It was a gift from my Korra after our wedding.” That made Sami realize something, turning to Asami. “You and your Korra, have you two…?”

“It’s in two weeks. Today was supposed to be practice for the reception.”

“Ah, right. Sorry for the sudden interruption.” Sami apologized before resuming her story. “In my universe at this moment, me and Korra are… were already married, we pushed up the ceremony after what happened with Sha-Garou.” More memories of seeing her love forcibly putting the dark spirit into her body clouded Sami’s mind, but she shook it off. “She remembered the dolls I kept since I was a child.”

“In the room near the upstairs bathroom?” Asami asked, remembering those dolls very much.

“Correct.” Sami said, happy that some things didn’t change, gliding her finger against the lips of the mask. “And one day while we were on our honeymoon at Ember Island, she saw this mask for sale from a vendor and bought it for me, said it had my eyes…”

A sad smile formed on Sami’s face, with Asami knowing the memories still hurt, knowing what this different Korra would become.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Is it about what Korra did to Guan?”

The engineer, slightly unnerved that the shadowbender knew what she was going to ask, nodded. “You said she went mad only initially because of him… was it because of… what he did to our minds?”

The shadowbender sighed, she had a feeling it was one reason why her Korra did what she did to Guan, she then remembered the night when her Korra revealed what Sha-Garou showed her. “I want to say yes, but… no, that’s not it.”

“Then what?” Asami asked, wanting to know the truth when she noticed Sami’s head lower down as if on it’s own.

Asami knew what was gonna happen next.

_“Something worse…”_

Sami’s head lifted back up, her eyes having turned from the light green to the same kind of bloodshot red eyes with yellow outlines around the pupil that Hattori Hanzo had when Sha-Garou took over.

But while Asami was frightened whenever that happened, that was not the case when Khu-Shui took over, as she could see even the spirit felt sadness at what it wasn’t saying.

 _“Something that crossed the line.”_ The spirit spoke, her hushed voice not hiding both the disgust and hate it felt towards the former Earth Empire zealot.

With that, Sami’s head lowered back down before it rose again, her eyes showing she was in control once more, light green eyes focused on the mask as she put it down before putting one hand over her face.

“Please… I don’t want to talk about it… not yet, okay?” Sami asked, the smell of the hospital coming back to mind… and the sight of her Korra screaming in anguish, it made her eyes tear up more.

Asami knew whatever happened, it was best not to prod her alternative self about it, when she was ready to talk about it, she and the others would be there to listen and be there for her.

“Hey, Sami…” She said, placing her hand on Sami’s free hand, the shadowbender looking back at her. “We’ll stop Sha-Garou, and if we can, we’ll free your Korra.”

While she still felt it may be too late to save her love from the spirits evil, hearing that did put another smile, a more happier one, onto Sami’s face, giving a hug to her other self, to her surprise.

“Thank you Asami, thank you.”

Then to break the mood, Fumi had jumped up onto Asami's lap, wanting attention. "Oh, hey girl…"

Just then, the WolfCat turned its head at Sami, her deadpan looking face unable to show it's confusion at seeing two of it's owners.

Only to give a small meow and hop onto Sami's lap, snuggling up to the Shadowbender's happiness as she petted her, like the animal knew this other version of Asami needed it.

"Fumi, haven't seen your furry behind in awhile."

* * *

"What do you think happened here then?" Dark Korra knelt down by a broken altar. The inscriptions on it were definitely fire nation. 

_"Isn't it obvious? The fire nation was destroyed."_

The Dark Avatar had a look through the ruins. It was true, but the fire nation was not where they meant to land. This was supposed to be the air nomad temples. Unless...

In the rubble, she spotted a ripped piece of cloth. She rummaged through the cobble, digging it out. A yellow piece of cotton. 

"The air nomads destroyed the fire nation." she said. "The war was the other way round."

 _"Finally. An interesting universe,"_ Sha-Garou chuckled. 

"Whatever." She threw the cloth back on the pile of rubble. "You said the Avatar would be here." Just then, she heard voices. She squinted, listening out, a grin spreading across her face. "And I stand corrected."

She snuck into the shadows, curving around the ruins of the temples. She heard footsteps, and hid in the shadows until she could see them.

"I don't think we'll find anymore firebenders here, Korra." She heard Mako's voice. "We've looked everywhere. The ones Tenzin rounded up are the only ones."

"Besides Zaheer," Bolin said.

Dark Korra watched as they headed up the steps, searching the temple ruins.

"If Harmonic Convergence made any more firebenders, they might have headed here..." this world's Avatar said. Dark Korra spotted her earth kingdom attire, odd. "We need to try."

"There's no need." She rose from the shadows, manifesting behind them. The darkness dripped and swirled around her body as the crew turned to face her. 

"Is that... you?" Bolin whispered to Korra. 

"No? Yes? NO!" 

Dark Korra smirked as they fumbled, and sent a shadow tentacle forward to grab the Avatar. Mako reacted quickly, dispersing the darkness with a gust of airbending as a blue arrow tattoo on his head became noticeable to the shadowbender. 

"So you're an airbender in this one."

"This one?" Mako furrowed his brows. 

Bolin sprung forward, raising a stream of water around him and hurling it at the dark Avatar, but she only blocked it with another shadow. 

"And you a waterbender? Wow, so much to learn! But..." she sunk into the darkness, making the crew look round desperately, wide eyed. "I'm in a bit of a hurry."

She appeared behind them again, taking the brothers by surprise and flinging them away with two shadows. She pinned them down as they struggled against the tentacles, while she grabbed this world's Avatar in the darkness. 

Korra slammed her foot down, raising up a boulder before being knocked off balance by the shadow tentacle grabbing her. The boulder fell back down on the ground before she had a chance to do anything else. She pushed against the shadow, but it was useless. 

"Let me go!"

"I will." 

She watched as the dark version of herself approached, forcing her head in her grip. She could just about see her hand glow on the side of her face, before she let out a scream. She felt her body going numb before going limp in her hold. 

“Another one down.” Dark Korra said, feeling the surge of power in her before disappearing again. 

The two brothers hurried off the ground as soon as the shadows lifted, but all they got to see was a flash of purple light, and no more Dark Korra. Instead, their Avatar’s body was limp on the floor on the rubble.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Sami said, looking out at the crew that gathered around her. 

Korra checked one more time. Everyone that agreed to come was there. Bolin, Mako, Thuy, Opal, Lin and Kya, and of course her fiance were ready to head into another world. 

"I think we're ready," she said. 

Sami nodded and took a deep breath. "I thank you all for doing this. Now, we all need to link arms. I'll try and make sure the crystal takes us all across."

The crew did as they were told. 

"Please don't liquify us," Bolin said, shutting his eyes tightly.

Sami used her electric glove and formed a tiny spark of electricity, letting it flow through the crystal. The purple light lit up, spreading first through her wrist, through her arm, and then across her whole body. She watched, nervous to see whether it could pass through to the next person. She saw Asami's hand, linked with her, also light up and she relaxed. The energy spread through everyone and soon the tingly feeling of being transported across dimensions enveloped her. 

Her vision was blinded with the purple light for a few moments, before the world around them started coming into focus again. They felt solid ground at their feet once more. 

Sami looked next to her. Everyone was there.

"We're not liquid!" Bolin yelled, feeling his body all over, happy to see he was in one piece before hugging Opal. “Oh thank you spirits!”

Korra smiled. They made it. She looked around them. This was a totally new universe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, brand new chapter! Mainly dialog, but we got a little action and some more of what Dark Korra is capable of, along with finding out... how some stuff came to be for certain characters. Plus, we got our first bit of universe hopping! Aside from Dark Korra taking the energy of another Avatar, this is more of a breather chapter. The true fun starts next chapter! But that'll have to wait until next week!


	5. Chapter Four- Venomous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to the amount of violence, gore and some PTSD related issues in this chapter. So just a heads up.
> 
> Also, still on the search for a new co-writer, if interested, comment below and ask for either my email or tumblr account!

Everyone in the group aside from Sami looked around the area, taking in the fact that they were now in an entirely different universe from their own.

“Alright, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong about your plan.” Lin admitted to Sami, herself amazed that not only did they survive the first jump altogether, but they were in a whole new world as she looked around the odd stone temple they were in before turning to the Shadowbender. “But do you know where we are?”

“Not exactly.” She answered to which Lin’s behavior turned back from being grateful to her skeptical self.

“Pardon?”

“I said I’m not sure. The Uchū Crystal is weird, while yes, you can tune in the frequency to follow pieces of it used by others, it’s still 50/50 odds that we even jump to the right dimension.” Sami explained, showing her piece. “And if we did get it right, we don’t know if we got here before or after Dark Korra and Sha-Garou. I got lucky that I even got to your guys dimension before them.”

“So there’s still a chance we could fail-” The Chief began before Kya stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, Lin, give her a break, clearly she’s still getting used to this.” The Waterbender suggested to which her lover sighed, her green eyes looking to the side a bit.

“Right, sorry about that.”

The alternative version of Asami smiled at the Chief, nodding. “It’s okay, It was annoying for me with the first couple jumps too. I’m just happy we’re all safe.”

Seeing Kya being the one to reel in Lin made the shadowbender remember in her universe that these two also got together, though she didn’t wanna say _what_ her Korra did to them after she fell to Sha-Garou’s influence.

“Hey guys, may wanna check this out!”

Everyone's attention turned to Mako after he said that as both him and Thuy were standing in front of a broken stone statue of a figure in robes, Korra joined him in lighting up the area with some fire in their palms.

“My Airbender history may be a bit rusty, but aren't they all supposed to have arrow tattoos?” Thuy noted, making note of the carving on the statue’s shaved head not signifying the kind of tattoos they were most known for, but of flames.

“Kya?” Opal asked the waterbender, who looked around the area, memories of when her father showed her around the ruins of the Air Temple along with her mother and siblings coming back to her.

She remembered Tenzin being the most interested while Bumi would try climbing over every large rock, claiming he proclaimed them as his own as Aang and Katara laughed.

That being said, while the ruins looked familiar to her, they were different at the same time, then something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, turning and rushing over to it, kneeling down to give it a look, which thankfully some cracks in the temple allowed for light to shine down on it.

There were two skeletons, each dressed in different clothes as it looked like both fell onto the same spear.

One was clearly a monk judging by his choice of attire, but the colors were wrong. The robe should have been yellow and orange with brown beads around the neck. But this one’s robe was black and red with gold colored beads on.

Then Kya noticed the armor the other skeleton was wearing, clearly a soldier, but it wasn’t the colors she was expecting, but rather the same ones the monk’s clothes should have been.

And then she saw the blue arrow on the soldier helmet.

“... oh no...” She said, feeling the color in her face drain as the others looked at her, turning as she closed her eyes.

“This isn’t a Air Temple, this is a _Fire_ Temple.”

“Fire Temple?” Asami asked as it all started to make sense to everyone. “You mean-”

“The roles were switched in this universe. It wasn’t the Fire Nation killing almost every Airbender to find my father…” Kya began, the realization of what universe they were in dawning on her more and more. “It was the Air Nation exterminating any firebenders... and he was a firebender.”

Silence sinked in for everyone as Lin came over to comfort her partner, everyone realizing the severity of how things changed.

“I thought you said what happened with Sha-Garou was the breaking off point?” Korra asked Sami, who merely shook her head.

“For our universes, yes. But other ones aren’t bound by just that paticular moment, some changes that affect others in the long run could happen going back as far as the original Avatar, to even just yesterday.”

“So the possibilities are endless, so many universes.” Korra realized as Bolin sat down on a large slab of stone.

“Yeah, I mean, like you said Sami, change one thing at a certain moment, and the whole universe could branch off into two more, then they branch off into two more, and then-”

“We get the point.” Lin interrupted, hand over the earthbender's mouth before looking around. “But if that’s true, what about the Water Tribe and Earth-”

“We have to inform the others…”

“We already know that Mako.” The Chief said, turning her head to Mako, who shook his head at his boss.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then who-”

“I know, but… what are we gonna do now? She’s dead!” Bolin’s voice rang out, but not coming from where he was sitting, too having heard his voice talk.

“Okay, you guys hear that too, right?” He asked as both Sami and Korra looked at each other, realizing what this meant.

“No!” Korra cried out, rushing away from the group towards where the voices were heard.

“Korra, wait!” Asami said, trying to follow her as did the others.

With the Airbender Mako and the Waterbender Bolin, both brothers looked down at the body of their close friend.

“I mean, this is the worst possible time! With Zaheer and the Red Lotus on the loose, doing spirits know what, now the cycle has restarted and we’re at square freakin’ one!” The younger of the two pointed out as the older sibling kneeled next to his old flame, giving a silent prayer for her. “And the worst part is that it was some evil version of Korra that killed ours!”

“We’ll have to regroup with Tenzin, tell him-” Mako said after a few moments of silence, but just as he began talking, both brothers heard footsteps coming fast towards them, more specifically behind the airbender, as both turned and saw out of the darkness of a nearby passageway come out, to their jaw dropped surprise, another Korra.

“What the?!” The Waterbender asked as he looked back and forth at the Korra in the Water Tribe clothes that just came in and the one whose body laid on the ground in Earth Kingdom attire. “Who, what, how, when?!”

“Oh no…” Korra herself said, not even noticing how different these versions of her friends looked, focusing solely on the body on the ground, holding back tears as she realized what had happened. “We missed her.”

“Who are you?” Mako’s voice rang out behind her as Korra suddenly felt some wind near the side of her neck, turning her head enough to see that this Mako had formed some kind of airblade… one aimed right at her. “What did you do to her?”

“Wait, wha-”

“WHY DID YOU KILL KORRA!?” The airbender yelled out, holding who he thought was the evil Korra who took his friend’s life at airblade point, rage and sadness forming in his eyes as Bolin held his hands up.

“Hey, relax man!”

“But I didn’t-”

“YES YOU DID!”

“No she didn’t!” Asami’s voice rang out as this different Mako felt a metal gloved hand clamp down on his shoulder as he, Korra and the other Bolin saw the non-bender prepared to shock him. “She’s innocent, let her go or else.”

“Asami? What are you doing here, aren’t you supposed to be with Tenzin and the other firebenders?” Bolin asked, confused at seeing her as the green eyes of her had a tinge of confusion.

“Other firebenders?” She asked as the others finally made it onto the scene, both groups now seeing each other, most noticeably Mako and Bolin now seeing their different selves and vice versa, both sets of brothers equally surprised.

“WOAH, Mako…” The Waterbender Bolin began, seeing his other self.

“This is so weird.” The Bolin who was standing next to Opal finished for his doppelganger as both Mako’s approached each other, giving each other a look over, seeing how different the other looked, from the detective noticing the airbender tattoos on the other’s body and said airbender noticing the lack of them on the one in front of him.

“Tell me about it.” Both Mako’s said at the same exact time.

Thuy gave a deep breath at the sight. “Oy, two Mako’s, I must be dreaming…” She said to herself, fanning herself which Sami noted, but shook off, going over to Korra, who had been now kneeling over her other self’s body, crying to herself with Asami at her side.

The Shadowbender felt so terrible about this, closing her eyes as she turned away.

“This is my fault, if I-”

“Sami, you’re not to blame.” Korra began, holding the hand of her dead self. “It’s Sha-Garou’s fault, it’s… the other me’s fault. Not yours.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but what in the name of Raava are you talking about? And why are there two of me and Bolin? And three of you?” The airbender Mako asked, now having somewhat of a hold on this situation. Well, as much as he could having just seen three versions of Korra.

“And what the heck is a “Sha-Garou”?” The Bolin in water tribe garb asked.

“It’s a… bit of a long story.” Sami began, lowering her head before lifting it back up, looking at the other versions of the brothers as her eyes turned red and yellow, making the both of them jump in surprise.

“ _So I’ll try to make it as short as I can for you two._ ” Khu-Shui’s voice came out of Sami’s mouth with a bit of a playful smile, ready to fill them in.

* * *

“So our Korra was killed by an evil version of herself from your universe?” Bolin looked at their Avatar’s lifeless body. His eyes were shiny with tears.

After explaining the whole story, Khu-Shui passed Sami’s body back to her. The engineer blinked a few times and took a deep breath. She couldn’t say it wasn’t unpleasant when the spirit did that, especially since unlike Hattori Hanzo when Sha-Garou took over, she knew of everything the spirit did when she was in control.

This world's Mako groaned. “We need to tell Asami too, she needs to know.” He wiped a tear that rolled down his cheek quickly, trying not to let anyone see him upset. 

“I know it’s hard,” Sami said, “But if we can somehow stop Dark Korra, then we'll prevent this happening to anyone else.”

The two brother’s were quiet for a moment, saying their silent goodbyes to their Korra. It was a heart wrenching sight, and Mako couldn’t stop his voice from shaking as he spoke again. 

“Let’s get to my sky bison. He’ll take us to Fire Temple Island.”

The crew nodded, following the brother’s off the mountain. Waiting for them was a droopy, half-asleep bison that perked up when he saw his companion. The animal could sense the sadness and he mimicked Mako’s emotions, looking confusedly at the crew like he was seeing double before seeing the lifeless body of his friend in Bolin’s arms and knowing why his companion was sad.

After giving this Korra a proper burial, they were off, their flight was quiet, besides the muffled sobs of the two brothers. Mako sat on the bison’s head, hiding his face from everybody as tears rolled down his cheeks, blown away by the winds. With every passing second, their sadness was turning to anger. 

Fire Temple Island was just as they expected - an island outside of Republic City mimicking the long gone civilazation of the Fire Nomads. As they landed, Tenzin, looking similar to his regular self, yet with the Fire Nomad colors and tattos, rushed over to them excitedly, convinced they must have found more fire benders.  
  
But as he took a closer look, this Tenzin realized the people on the bison weren’t strangers at all. He froze, staring as they hopped down, noticing the doppelgangers

This world’s Asami made her way over too, dressed in the same Fire Monk robes as Tenzin, her hair tied back and scorch marks on her boots. She had just come out of training. 

“Something terrible happened,” Mako said. “And these guys need our help.” 

The crew waited as the brothers explained the situation. Even though this was a different Asami, one who must have been affected by this universes Harmonic Convergence, Korra’s heart still dropped when she saw her expression as she got the news. She spent a few moments taking it in, tears welling up in her eyes before her brows furrowed. 

“Then we’ll do whatever it takes to stop her,” the firebender said, turning her head to the crew. “Count us in.” 

Tenzin nodded. “My firebenders are still training, but we’ve got your back.” 

Korra let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” 

Firebender Asami made a small dagger of fire in her hand. “When the time comes, we’ll be ready.” 

That was all they needed to hear. Sami noted there was no time to lose anymore. They had just missed Dark Korra in this universe and had to hurry to try and catch her in the next. They said their goodbyes to the brothers and the two firebenders, before linking arms once more. 

Bolin closed his eyes. “Please don’t-”

“Yes, we know. Don’t liquify us. Now just do it already.” Lin interrupted him. 

Sami nodded, activating the crystal. They were enveloped in purple light, praying that the next universe was not only the right one, but they got there first. 

* * *

The last few of the Earth Kingdom palace guards were rounded up and taken away. Zaheer stared at his achievements. The palace was alight, and people scrambled through the streets of Ba Sing Sei. He turned his head as he heard the footsteps of the Avatar, seeing her coming out from the palace's gates.

"The Earth Queen is dead," she said. 

He grinned. "Our mission is nearing completion."

“Yeah, good thing too, I always hated the old bitch.” This Korra, wearing a sleeveless variation of Ming-Hau’s outfit and her hair cut down into a round bowl cut, smirked at what she got to do. "Let's just say I left her breathless."

They walked away from the burning building, hearing the walls crack from the heat. The streets of the city were left nearly intact, but where the Earth Kingdom soldiers had tried to intervene, there were craters and broken walls from the fights. 

P'Li joined them. "The generals are taken care of."

"Then we're done here." Just as Zaheer said that, a flash of light caught his eye. He frowned, looking down the street at the purple entity forming. "What the-"

It wasn't just a light. People started appearing out of it. He squinted at one in particular. Was that another Korra? 

"They're here to stop us," he said. "Get them!"

Korra and P'Li took up their fighting stances. This world's Avatar frowned as she saw the doppelgangers appearing, but it must have been nothing more than a trick to throw them off, but nothing could stop the Red Lotus. Before the intruders had time to take in their surroundings, she earth bended three walls around them so they had nowhere to flee. 

Zaheer walked closer, fists out. "If you make a move, you're all dead."

The crew stared wide eyed at what they had just teleported into. 

"So in this universe I'm... with the Red Lotus?" Korra gulped, looking at her angry self next to P'Li, realizing here they must had successful in kidnapping her all those years ago.

"Psst, guys," Bolin whispered. "I don't think this is good."

Lin rolled her eyes. “No shit.”

"Come with us quietly now and you won’t get hurt," Zaheer commanded as Red Lotus Korra metalbended platinum cuffs around their wrists. 

They walked them down the streets of Ba Sing Sei towards the prison, during which Mako had taken notice of Thuy being more quiet than usual, in fact, she looked petrified. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but felt now was not the time.

Along the way, the crew tried to warn the group about what would happen, but everything they said to them fell on deaf ears.

"You have to listen to us," Sami said. "If we don't act now, Dark Korra will be here soon and she'll kill this world's Avatar too!"

Zaheer scowled at what he was hearing. "Don't listen to them," he said. "They can't stop the Red Lotus."

“There’s two of her right here, isn’t that proof enough!” Opal noted, pointing at the two Asami’s who both rose their cuffed hands up, but the leader nor his girlfriend wasn’t having any of it.

“Twin sisters, nice try.” P’li snarked.

"We're not even from your universe!" Kya said, looking around. "It's too late to care about what you're doing! We just want to like... I don't know... STOP THE UNIVERSES FROM ENDING!"

Red Lotus Korra frowned. "The universes are ending?" Once she asked this, Zaheer let out a unbroken glare at the group.

"They're lying, Korra. Lock them up."

The Korra of this universe opened up a platinum cell and P'Li pushed the crew inside, seeing them uncuffed before the door to the cell was closed, locked with a single key made of the same kind of metal.

"There's no time for this!" Sami tried again to explain, but the Red Lotus was already walking away. “GET BACK HERE, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!”

"Brilliant," Lin said. "Now we're trapped here."

Sami let out a sigh of frustration. She could sense Dark Korra wasn't too far this time. 

They noticed the Red Lotus Avatar hung behind. She looked at them, brows furrowed at there being two Asami's, like she was almost entranced by their eyes.  
  
She almost wanted to hear them out, especially as she saw herself in the platinum cage. 

A loud crash outside shook the ground. 

"She's here!" Sami yelled.

"Please let us out! We can help you!" Korra asked herself, seeing that in her eyes, which had seen so much of what the Red Lotus have done, and what she has committed herself under their name, she was considering it for a moment.

The other Korra then heard Zaheer call her name, and she rushed out, not giving the crew another thought.

"Aw, fuck." Mako whispered. 

Asami pressed her head against the bars, looking down the corridor of the prison. There had to be a way out. Across from them, she spotted the key hanging off the peg on the wall. She turned to Sami. 

"You can escape, right?"

The shadowbender nodded. Of course the Red Lotus hadn’t considered this, heck, she had forgotten she could show them proof!

Another loud sound, like a woman's scream before something exploding made them wince. 

"Hurry. The keys are over there." 

* * *

Just two minutes earlier, after seeing this group of intruders off into the cells, Zaheer went back to focus on the task at hand, going after Airbender Island as he went to meditate, but knew something was up.

“Something on your mind, Ghazan?”

His fellow Red Lotus member, the Lavabender was giving some thought after having seen his leader, the Avatar and P’Li bring in not just some random group of prisoners, but also another Avatar.

He also took note of what they were trying to warn as Ming-Hau sat near him, her water arms flowing around her.

“Something’s not sticking here, with all of this.”

“Do go on then.” Zaheer asked, giving him the chance to speak.

“Okay, things had been going fine so far, our plan taking longer to get a’rolling, especially since you decided to wait for the Avatar to grow up, but nothing wrong and we’re getting what we wanted, fine and dandy.”

Ghazan then pointed to where the prisoners had been taken as P’Li exited the cells. “But now suddenly we got a group of people, led by ANOTHER Korra, appearing out of the blue, saying something about a “Dark Korra” coming for ours. Yet you don’t think none of this seems the least bit, I don't know, _completely fucked_?”

“I have to side with him on this one Zaheer.” Ming-Hau noted, too having noticed how weird this was, even for someone as wicked as her. “I know my student well, but seeing two Korra’s, it’s got me feeling uneasy.”

But before Zaheer could respond, the four noticed a familiar purple glow and another figure coming out.

The non-bender anarchist tried to make out the figure, but her voice clued him and the others in on who it was.

“Oh, what’s this, _Red Lotus_?”

Then they saw as the glow vanished a third Korra in their presence, taking note of her dark attire and different hair, but most noticeably, her cyan colored eyes turning glowing red as a look of sadistic glee formed.

“Not who I’m looking for, but I’m not going to waste this chance.”

The four members just then realized the prisoners were right, a more evil Korra was after theirs, something Ghazan wasn’t letting cloud his judgment as he bended up a lava disc in his hands.

“Okay, I’m ending this now!”

With that, he flung the heated projectile towards Dark Korra who had simply watched this display of bending not even bothered before raising her hand, at the same time a hand of shadows formed from her own and caught the lava disk.

Before the Red Lotus could react to her Shadowbending, Dark Korra swiftly moved her arm in a wave, the shadow hand suddenly throwing the lava disk back at it’s owner.

But Ghazan was too distracted by the sight of something he only heard stories about when he was a child to even react or hear Zaheer call out to him before a sudden burning pain ran it’s way through his upper waist, just as the heated projectile crashed into the stone wall _right behind him._

Zaheer heard the sound of liquid turning into steam when it made contact, watching as the Lavabender turned his head towards his boss in silent shock, barely making a sound before he fell forward, with his legs falling back, the wounds on both halves of the waist cauterized. 

“No… KORRA!” Zaheer cried out to warn her before he and P’Li saw Ming-Hua rush towards Dark Korra, screaming as she turned her water arms into ice blades.

“Ming-Hua, WAIT!” P’Li yelled out only to watch alongside her boyfriend this more evil Avatar suddenly see the waterbender get strung up by sharp tentacles that formed from the shadows around them, the ice blades being ripped from the armless woman’s body into the shadows.

Something which Dark Korra figured she’d have to do to weaken the unique waterbender as she strolled up to her with a knowing glare.

“You always were one of the tougher ones back in my universe, even gave Kya a run for her Yuan…” She began before moving her hand in a similar gesture like this universe’s Korra when she bended all the air out of the Earth Queen. “So just to play safe.”

But instead of watching the defenseless Ming-Hua choke to death, the shadowbender had a different idea in mind as she stole the air out of of her body, not noticing the Red Lotus affiliated Korra having stumbled on the scene, hiding out of sight, especially with Zaheer signaling her to do so.

Then the evil Avatar opened her hand, forcing all the air taken out of the waterbender back into her through all the orifices in her head, dropping her to the ground as all Ming-Hua could do was struggle and loudly screech on the ground.

The other Red Lotus members, and the hidden Red Lotus Korra, watched in disgust as they realized blood was beginning to slowly seep out from the Waterbender’s eyelids, nose, mouth and ears.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?!?” Zaheer yelled out at seeing this display of savagery, only to notice this evil version of Korra keeping her eyes on her victim, holding her hand up.

“Just give her a few more seconds.”

With one last pitiful scream of pain, Ming-Hua’s head couldn’t take the pressure of all the air inside of her head before it exploded from the inside out, with blood, bone and brain matter blasting out all over due to all the air bursting out, some hitting the ground, some hitting a horrified P’Li and Zaheer, and some even on Dark Korra.

Something which she was not happy with.

“Aw, AW!” She cried out, seeing her clothes stained in blood, not watching the armless and now headless body give a deathly twitch or two before stopping. “There’s so much blood on me, what is- IS THAT HER EYE ON MY BOOT, EW!” She yelled out, indeed kicking the waterbender’s eye off of her boots.

The Korra of the Red Lotus, having to watch this sight on the sidelines, felt her eyes tear up, she just witnessed two of her friends, including her waterbending teacher, be murdered by this… evil version of herself.

She moved her eyes towards Zaheer, who without even looking or moving an inch took notice. This Korra knew he was giving her permission to free the prisoners.

“Oh, _Zaheer_... what’s on your mind?” Dark Korra’s voice echoed all over, seemingly from the shadows as the Red Lotus member put his focus back on her, his girlfriend staying close. “She’s here, isn’t she? I heard you scream her name, so tell you what, since I’m in such a giving mood…” She began, walking over the two corpses, towards the members.

“Tell me where you’re hiding my other self and I'll consider at least making your deaths quick and painless, ignoring all the suffering you put me through in my universe.” The Shadowbender said, the last part said quickly, obviously dripping in a condescending tone.

But both the non-bender and combustion bender kept their grounds, even if they were admittingly scared of this shadowbending Avatar.

“She escaped when I called out to her after you killed Ghazan, I have no idea where she went...” Zaheer lied.

This got a curious nod out of Dark Korra. “Hum, interesting. Now why don’t I believe you?” She asked, obviously not buying it before suddenly raising her hand out towards P’Li, a shadow tentacle suddenly rising up from below her wrapping itself around her neck before she moved her other hand around, causing two large slabs of earth to form side-by-side on each side of the combustion bender.  
  
Zaheer's heartrate sped up the instant he realized what this fallen Avatar had planned.

“Let me rephrase my offer. Tell me where this universe’s Korra is, or else…” She began to say, slightly moving her earthbending hand to the side as Zaheer watched the two slabs of earth slowly begin to push towards against P’Li, who struggled to break herself free.

“You’re gonna be a single man.”

Zaheer saw his love’s eyes shaking as she tried to send out a combustion blast, but with her focus on not trying to get crushed or choked to death, P’Li couldn’t let one out. He had no choice.

“Okay, I’ll talk, just let her go, please!”

The evil Korra had to give a small huff, but nodded and lowered her hands, freeing the Combustion bender as Zaheer dropped down to his knees to check on her as P'Li tried catching her breath.

“Alright, make with the location, or else I'm going to do the same with you.” Dark Korra threatened towards Zaheer, giving a smirk. “And since in this universe, appearently you never became an airbender, there ain’t a damn thing you could do about it.”

The Red Lotus member, shocked to hear in another universe he became an airbender, nonetheless closed his eyes, before feeling the ground below him tremble slightly, like something was opened.

That put a smile on his face as he opened his eyes.

“Alright, she’s here.”

Just then, a loud tremor was heard and felt, before the ground below Dark Korra exploded, making the Shadowbender jump back, expecting her Red Lotus self, but that’s not who she got.

“There you are…” Korra’s voice rang out, ready to fight her darker self.

“WHAT?!” Dark Korra screamed before seeing the rest of the crew come out from the entrance to the cells. “How are you-” She began screaming more until she saw her former lover, the purple crystal in her glove. “SON OF A-” She began to roar until Korra shut her up by sending a giant boulder in her direction, smashing the evil Avatar through a nearby stone wall.

“Where is she, where’s our Korra?!” Zaheer asked the others, holding up a still recovering P’Li in his arms as Asami pointed behind them.

“She’s down in the cells, gave us the keys before we got to them.”

“Don’t worry, Bolin and Opal are with her.” Kya said as Sami marched towards the battle, hands out as the shadows around her vibrated as her eyes glowed red, surprising the remaining Red Lotus members.

“We’ll explain later if we survive!” Mako said as he, Thuy, Lin and Kya made their way into the battle.

Dark Korra snarled as she rose to her feet, eyeing the crew. She didn't even want to question how they knew where she was and instead just burnt with rage. 

"Stop getting in my way!" She bellowed, rising shadow tentacles around them, sending the darkness hurtling towards them. 

Korra airbended herself off the ground out of the way, falling back down and steadying herself before sending a flurry of fire punched in the Dark Avatar's direction. She dodged them, rolling along the ground to get away from the wall and avoid being cornered, before swinging her leg along the ground, sweeping Korra off her feet with a gust of wind.

She felt Zaheer come up behind her, trying to wrap his arm around her throat in a chokehold but she ducked, spinning round and throwing a punch into his stomach, sending him flying with her airbending. He hit the street with a thud and a loud grunt. 

Her attention was brought to P'Li immediately, watching her charge up and send a beam of energy towards her. She jumped back just in time, but was thrown off balance by the explosion of her combustion. 

Her sloppy footwork was just in enough for Sami to take the opportunity to hit her with her own shadow tentacle, knocking her off her feet. The Dark Avatar scowled at her attempts, but before she could get back up Lin bound one of her arms with metal wire, holding it in place, and Kya froze her other hand to the ground. Dark Korra had to struggle against them before she could rise, and Sami had the perfect opportunity.

She sent forward a shadow claw. It descended down onto her, its sharp fingers coming towards her. She kicked a panicked gust of air towards it. It was weak, but it somehow did the job, knocking the claw away from her so it sunk into the concrete at her side. 

She broke the ice and snapped the metal, rising to her feet. 

"I told you you're not a bender," she leered at the shadowbending Asami. "You don't have the power to fight me!"

Sami gulped. A bead of sweat ran down her temple as Dark Korra grinned like she had realized something.

"Or perhaps you don't have the guts to _hit me_." 

The engineer clenched her fists, but she didn't have time to think of a reply as the crew jumped to her defense. 

Korra sent a boulder towards Dark Korra, and she used a shadow spike to break it apart before it hit her. 

She rose tentacles up again, hurling them at the crew, forcing them to focus on dodging and parrying them so she could plan her next move. She turned to see Zaheer compose himself, with P'Li helping him up before noticing the hole Korra burst out of. Smirking, she dipped into the shadows. 

"She's getting away!" Lin yelled.

P'Li and Zaheer followed the trail of shadow the Dark Avatar left as she headed down into the crater the crew formed when they sprung up into the fight. They rushed after her. 

"She's heading for Korra!" Zaheer shouted as he and his partner jumped in after her.

The crew threw their last strikes against the shadows, before rushing with them.

They reached the corridors of the prison, just in time to see Opal and Bolin standing their ground against Dark Korra, while this world’s Avatar was backed against the wall behind them.

"There you are," Dark Korra said, her voice low and crackling. 

Opal striked at her with her airbending, only for the Dark Avatar to counter it with her own air, pushing against Opal's and knocking her backwards against the wall. Bolin slammed his foot down, lifting a boulder and hurling it towards her, but her Avatar abilities were stronger, and she stopped it.

The earthbender struggled against her, pushing as much as he could but he couldn't overpower her, and his boulder became hers. His eyes widened as he saw it flying towards him, but never made impact as it crashed into a wall of concrete. He looked behind him and saw the Red Lotus Korra having earthbended a shield for him. 

There was no time for thanks. The Dark Korra lifted a shadow and went straight for the Avatar, trying to grab her with the appendage. Her hand was stopped in place with a metal wire from Thuy, but she only smirked at the bender's feeble attempt, yanking it hard out of her hand, sending her to the ground. 

Mako seemed enraged by this, and he sent a fireball flying through the air towards her. She leaned all the way back, watching as the flames skid just over her face, and went hurtling towards Bolin in front of her. 

"Bolin!" Opal shouted, sending out a gust of airbending in a desperate attempt to disperse the flames but it wasn't quick enough, and some of the fire caught the earthbender's shoulder. He winced, patting his shirt to put the fire out. 

Dark Korra smirked. "You just hit your own brother there." she said, turning towards Mako. His eyes were wide with that he'd done.

Seeing him distracted, she hurled a tentacle towards him, and grabbed him off the ground, lifting him up close to the ceiling so he had to use his hands to stop himself from being pressed against it. Thuy was ready to free him, wrapping a metal wire around the shadow until she too was grabbed and heaved off the floor as she struggled. 

"Two adorable lovebirds." Dark Korra said.

"Leave them alone! It's me you want!" 

She turned her head to see the Red Lotus Avatar glaring at her, fists raised in a fighting stance. She thought it was almost adorable.

"You're right." She only raised more shadows, grabbing at the crew as they struggled to free themselves. "I hope this version of me puts up an interesting fight."

This angered the other Korra, and she swung her fists, sending flames towards her dark self, quick and unrelenting.

With each strike, Dark Korra parried it, her forearms surrounded in convulsing shadows as she swung away at the fire. She could only grin as her other self realized its futility. 

Bolin pushed through the pain and raised his fist, breaking the ground under Dark Korra's feet so she stumbled off balance, missing one of her parries and taking a hit of flames to the side of her chest. She backed up, wincing, before her red glowing eyes turned to the earthbender, seething with fury.

“Oh you _STUPID_ bastard...”

"Uh oh," Bolin said. He knew he was about to be targeted, so he raised up a chunk of ground and hurled it at her. The Dark Avatar smashed through it with her fist, shattering it into pebbles before swinging her arms around her body, gathering up a torrent of fire. 

"I've gotten so fed up with you!" She yelled, before unleashing the flames towards the earthbender.

Opal slashed at the shadow attacking her and tried to save her boyfriend again, striking at Dark Korra to get her to stop her attack but it was like every time she dispersed a shadow, a new one formed and her attack was futile against the darkness that emerged. 

"No!" She screamed as the flames hit Bolin, smashing him against the wall before his body fell to the floor. She rushed over to him. "Bolin? Bolin, are you ok?!" He wasn't responding. 

"Good. Another menace out of the way." The Dark Avatar turned back to Red Lotus Korra, who was panting heavily. "Where were we?" She smirked as a tentacle flew out and grabbed her. She tried dodging out of the way, so the shadow only ended up grasping her wrist but its grip was unrelenting nonetheless. 

"ARGH!" She grunted against it, using her free hand to send another fire punch towards her dark self, but she only leaned out of the way. Another shadow rose up and grabbed her other hand, holding her in place. 

"Get away from her!" Zaheer yelled. He wrestled with the shadows he was fighting and broke through, running over to the shadowbending Avatar. 

Dark Korra rose a shadow hand from the ground, punching her other self square in the stomach. Korra coughed, and nearly doubled over if it wasn't for the arms holding her hands up in the air. 

Zaheer lunged at the dark Avatar, driving his fist towards her head but before he could make contact, he was thrown down against the floor. He looked up to see a large shadow fist pinning him down. 

Then P’Li herself came at Dark Korra, who just barely noticed her in the corner of her eye before she felt the foot of the combustion bender collide into her face before preparing another combustion blast as she got close.

But the shadowbending Avatar quickly bended some stone around her fist and drove it into the side of the Red Lotus member hard, driving her back to the ground as the back of her head lurched to the side, the combustion blast almost hitting Mako and Thuy, who dodged out of the way.

“Not exactly the best location to do that.” Dark Korra smirked before returning the favor and driving a now stone covered foot into P’Li’s face, knocking her on her back before turning to her other self who had still been struggling against the shadows. "Do please ignore the interruptions."

The shadows punched her again, and again, each time harder than the last until she coughed up blood over her shirt. "I think that will do." The dark Avatar approached, raising her hand up to her face. 

The Red Lotus Korra wheezed, struggling to breathe, looking up at the red eyes of her evil self. She furrowed her brows, refusing to lose so easily yet, spitefully spitting blood into Dark Korra’s face.

That slightly caught her off guard as the captured Avatar slammed her foot down, slanting the ground under Dark Korra's feet so she fell backwards. Her eyes widened as she saw her evil self catch herself with a shadow, straightening back up as she wiped the blood off her face. 

"That was a little interesting. Rude, but interesting, I'll give you that."

The Red Lotus Korra struggled against the shadows one more time, and in seeing this, her other self rose up a shadow claw, bringing its sharp finger up to Korra's chin. 

"Make another move and I'll cut you open."

The Red Lotus Avatar froze, feeling the darkness pierce her skin and a trickle of blood run down her neck. She gulped and shut her eyes tightly.

Dark Korra approached, and as she brought her glowing hand to the Avatar's head, the crew realized what was happening too late.

"NO, KORRA!!" Zaheer bellowed, writhing against the shadow tentacle as he saw the Avatar's lifeless body drop to the floor in front of him. 

"That's another one for the collection," Dark Korra said, drawing back her shadows from everyone. "Thank you." 

Zaheer rose up and with a war cry swung at her, but his fist hit nothing. He looked around him, seeing the shadows contort as she disappeared into them. He was seething with rage. 

"Get her! Fucking KILL HER!" 

He pushed through everyone, running outside after her, his heart dropping as he caught the flash of purple light. And with that, she was gone.

By the time the Red Lotus member got back to the others in the cells, he saw the body of the Korra he knew lying motionless on the ground with the other one resting over her.

“Was that the Shadowbender you all were talking about?” He questioned, angry at having failed his protégé. One whom while he and the others did kidnap at a young age and warped her mind into following the ideas of the Red Lotus, he had grown to think of her like a daughter, especially since Zaheer knew that he and P’Li never had children of their own.

“We warned you, and you didn’t listen…” Thuy said, kneeling next to Korra and Sami, devastated that another Korra had her energy stolen. “But why am not shocked, seeing as you Red Lotus never listen to reason.”

“What was that?!” Zaheer asked of the metalbender’s words until suddenly feeling his wrists constrict together, looking down to see her metal wiring tying them together with a tight grip before Thuy pushed him on his back, a look of saddened anger in her eyes.

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!” She screamed, bending another wire out in her hands and forced herself onto him, holding the wire against his throat, anger in her eyes.

“Get off of-” P’Li began to call out and try to pull her off of her boyfriend, only for the metalbender to push her back

“Stay the _FUCK_ out of this, ya’ three eyed bitch!” She screamed before turning to the others, including Mako. “ALL OF YOU!” She yelled at them before getting back to the non-bender at her mercy

“Because of your stupid ideology, you didn’t properly prepare her, you just taught her hate, to rebel against order, anarchy. IT’S YOUR FAULT SHE’S DEAD! IT’S YOUR FAULT _THEY’RE DEAD! I HATE YOU!_ ” Thuy yelled more, ready to cut Zaheer’s throat open.

“THUY!” Mako yelled out as he, along with Kya and Lin pulled her off of Zaheer, trying to keep the struggling metalbender back, but she wouldn’t stop, reaching out towards the now recovering anarchist who managed to get the wiring off of him as P’Li helped him up.

“BOTH OF YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! NOT HER! NOT MY PARENTS! YOU TWO!!”

Then finally feeling all her energy just drain out, the look on the metalbender’s face changed from rage to sadness as her arms slumped down, breaking out in tears.

“You killed her… you killed her… you killed _my parents_ …”

The only sound heard in the camp was the sad tears being formed by the young metalbender, pushing her head into Mako’s chest as he held her, everyone in the area realizing that even knowing time wasn’t on their side, they needed a moment to breathe.

As minutes went by, no one said or even muttered a word as Kya began to take her time healing every one of the wounds they endured due to Dark Korra, with Opal near Bolin’s side, luckily only getting minor burns to his shoulder and arms and a bump on the back of his head having knocked him out.

Though the master Waterbender knew that the wounds Thuy endured didn’t happen just then, and they weren’t physical either.

“I was only 17…” The metalbender said, sitting with her knees and arms against her face as Mako sat by her as did Korra, Asami, Sami and Lin, the two remaining Red Lotus members separate from them, which everyone agreed would be for the best.

“Me and my parents decided to take a trip to Ba Sing Se. It had been a long time since we did, it was… enjoyable, we were happy…”

Then the mohawked girl’s eyes looked up at Zaheer and P’Li, remembering the past quite well.

“Then _you two_ … and _them two_ …” She noted, nodding over to the corpses of Ghazan and Ming-Hua before resuming. “You made your attack on the city, your friend, the one currently in two pieces, he bought the walls down…”

Then Thuy’s voice began to crack as she remembered what else happened at that moment. “My father, my mum… they were caught in the debris. I didn’t have the chance to even think of giving them a proper burial before the lava got close enough to the bodies…”

“But that wasn’t us.”

Everyone looked to see Zaheer turn his head towards the metalbender. “How are responsible for the actions of other forms of ourselves? Me, P’Li, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, WE had nothing to do with what happened in your universe, what gives you the right to blame us for the actions of those-”

“OH, cut the “That wasn’t us” shite!” Thuy yelled out, getting up on her feet. “What were you doing before we appeared?”

She then looked at Sami. “You’re all knowing, what were they doing?”

The shadowbender was confused at this. “Why are you asking me?” She said, only for the mohawked girl to shake her head.

“I wasn’t asking you Sami, I was asking _the shadow spirit in you!_ ”

Before Sami could answer, her head dropped down as Khu-Shui took control, she knew the young girl was angry. But she also knew the point she was making as the spirit turned Sami’s head towards the Red Lotus members.

“ _The same thing, making an attack on the Earth Nation capital, with their Korra murdering the Earth Queen, and Ghazan indeed bringing down the walls as riots broke out. There were many casualties, guards, servants, innocents, men, women, children…_ ”

“Thank you love…” Thuy said with a nod, turning back around to look at Zaheer and P’Li, both having been shocked to hear a different voice come from the shadowbender’s mouth, let alone knowing fully well what they had just done. "Some details may be different as we’re in a different universe, but the outcome was the same, you bastards causing anarchy, but calling it a “Revolution”, at the cost of innocent lives, under some misguided bullshite beliefs...” She hissed, wanting to attack the two once more.

But all she could do was just shake her head in disgust. “You may as well just kill my parents all over again.”

With those words, she turned away and sat back down, trying to hold back in her anger, giving more muffled cries once more as Mako got back to holding her.

While the non-bender always believed in what the Red Lotus stood for, seeing the daughter of some bystanders caught in the crossfire of attacks committed by different versions of themselves call him and P’Li out, it did strike a nerve with Zaheer and made him feel bad for the girl.

And he could see it in his girlfriend’s eyes too, regret forming in them.

Opal, having been watching this as she held Bolin on her lap, never knew that about her friend, feeling so horrible for her.

But her attention then turned to something in her boyfriend’s coat pocket when she brushed her hand against his stomach by mistake.

Curious, the Airbender couldn’t help but reach her hand inside of it, feeling something in a square shape, so she pulled it out and inspected it.

Suddenly, she felt her whole body turn red as she looked at the small box, looking around to see if no one was looking, especially Bolin, who was still passed out.

Taking the chance, Opal slowly opened the box and saw what was laid in it.

It was a gold ring with a small opal stone on it.

Internally freaking out, she quickly shut it and stuffed it back into Bolin’s jacket pocket, trying to keep her excitement down as she then realized what Bolin was gonna ask her back at Mako and Thuy’s apartment.

_He wanted to propose to her._

* * *

After escaping that universe with the Red Lotus version of herself, Dark Korra came out of the purple energy in what seemed like a cave.

She didn’t know where she was, but as much as she wanted to keep going in her goal, she needed some rest as she hadn’t slept in almost a day, something which she could hear Sha-Garou chiding her for.

“ _All the power you have and what I’ve bestowed onto you, and you want to take a nap?_ ”

“I’m sorry, I’m not a spirit who doesn’t need sleep. Even the Avatar needs rest, at least a few hours.” Dark Korra said as she found a decent sized rock to lay next to, her head against it.

“ _And what if during your little break, the Prime and the others arrive in the universe, possibly right here?_ ”

“You saw how easy I handled them before, don’t worry…” The evil Avatar said before letting her eyes close as she adjusted herself.

Soon enough, the Shadowbending Avatar was dreaming, but contrary to her current mental state and goals, her dreams were of events from the past, better times...

_... such as when she and Asami tied the knot._

_Bolin officiated it like he did with Varrick and Zhu-Li’s wedding, her parents in the front row, happy for their daughter, with Mako serving as her Best Man, though she remembered joking that he was the Maid of Honor._

_Everyone she met on her journeys were all there to see her and Asami give their vows, slip a ring on each other’s fingers and seal it all with a kiss as Bolin called them “Avatar and wife”. She even took Asami's last name, becoming "Avatar Korra Sato"._

_Then the dream became fragmented while the images she dreamt of turned from positive to negative with sights of Guan breaking free and standing in the middle of Republic City…_

_Only to be replaced by the image of Asami in a hospital bed, no sounds being made, only to suddenly be replaced by seeing and hearing herself scream as loud as she could in the middle of the hallway._

_Then she heard some words said to her that day from the Shadow Spirit in her._

_“I’m so sorry…”_

_“You and I both know what he’s done…”_

_“This will be the last time I’ll give you an offer…”_

_Just then, the last thing Korra said to a sleeping Asami's in the hospital before she made her choice repeatedly played in her dreams._

_“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”_

_“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”_

_“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do..”_

_“I love you.”_

_Just as the three words were said, a sight of the red eyed Dark Korra slashing Asami’s back with a shadow claw flashed, her wife falling onto a table where the Uchū Crystal was, various corpses surrounding them._

With that, Dark Korra’s eyes opened widely, having awoken from her nightmare, noticing her fingers having dug into the ground as she slept.

“ _Bad dream?_ ”

“Shut up.” Was all the evil Avatar could say before getting back to sleep.

\---------------

Bolin slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the light. 

"Bolin?" Opal whispered. "Are you ok?" 

He frowned, taking in his surroundings. His girlfriend was kneeling as his side, behind her the bars to the cells of the prison. They were still underground. He spotted Kya taking care of the others as they sat around trying to regain their strengths. Memories of what happened were slowly coming back to him. 

"Yeah," he muttered. "I'm ok." As he spoke, his head throbbed with a headache.

Opal smiled. "Good. That's good."

The earthbender looked up at her. She had a few bruises herself but otherwise seemed fine, which he was most happy about. 

He tried to sit up using his hands. His chest ached and he looked down at his burnt shirt. It didn't look pretty, but it could have been much worse, seeing the areas where he felt the flames looking to have been healed.

And he liked this shirt too.

"Thank you for trying to save me," he said, remembering Opal trying to save him. 

"No need." She helped him with an arm on his back. "I'm glad you're ok." She averted her gaze, staring around the walls almost awkwardly. 

"Are you ok?" 

Opal nodded. 

"You're acting weird."

"Weird?" she let out a nervous chuckle. "Didn't notice. Probably just post battle jitters. You know."

Bolin nodded slowly. "Yeah. Ok."

Kya noticed he had woken up and walked over to him. "Anything hurting?"

"Only everything," he said. "But I'll be fine."

"You took quite a beating." She placed some water around his head to deal with the remnants of his concussion. It felt nice and warm against his face, like Opal's skin against his hand.

While everyone was getting ready, Sami headed out to find Zaheer again. She found him kneeling by the bodies of his lost friends. They had carried Korra's body out of the prison too. They must have meant to take her away for a proper burial, but for now, as they rested, him and his partner mourned over their deaths.

It wasn't the ideal time to be bothering them but she had no choice. They would have to leave soon and she needed to talk to them. 

"Zaheer? P'Li?" she said, walking up to them cautiously. Now that Dark Korra was gone she wasn't sure how they'd react to her.

Zaheer barely looked up. 

She took a moment to phrase what she needed to say carefully. "We're sorry for your loss." They didn't say anything so she continued. "You can now imagine what's happening in the other universes too. There's others just like you going through the same grief and we need to stop it before more suffer. We have the chance to stop it if we stick together."

Zaheer closed his eyes and sighed. "Our Korra is already dead. Helping the others won't bring her back."

"You may be right. I lost the Korra close to my heart too..." Sami thought of Dark Korra. She wasn't technically lost, but it was just impossible to get through to her. "She, the one who attacked, was my wife, before the shadow spirit began to corrupt her. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love."

Hearing that, the Red Lotus members scowled, looking up at the engineer. "So it's _your wife_ that's killing avatars, is it?" he said. 

Sami stuttered. "W-Well, yes, but it's not her, it's Sha-Garou, the spir-"

Zaheer put his hand up to stop her talking. "We have our own loss to deal with. We won't get involved in anyone else's. Count us out."

The shadowbender's shoulder dropped in disappointment. "I understand," she said, before turning away and walking back to the others.

She saw Korra rounding everyone up as they walked outside, checking that they were all fit to travel again. She smiled at Sami as they approached.

"I think we're ready to go," she said. 

Sami nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready too."

Korra looked from her to Zaheer. "They're not coming, are they?" 

The engineer shook her head. 

"Of course they're not," Thuy muttered. "Why would they care?" She kicked at the ground, walking a bit to stretch her joints. Her bones hurt slightly from being squeezed in the shadow tentacle's grip. 

As the rest of the crew talked through their plan, P'Li left Zaheer's side, walking over to the young mohawked girl. She stood a little way away, but got her attention nonetheless. 

Thuy looked up at her, brows furrowed. 

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," P'Li said. Her voice was low and quiet, but she heard her fine anyway. "I'm sorry the Red Lotus hurt your family." She avoided the girl's gaze. Apologies didn't come easily for her.

Thuy had a lot of words for them in mind, but hearing that she dropped all of them. She was shocked initially. While she felt like she could never forgive them, hearing the combustion bender at least say that eased her rage a little. "Can't say I expected this... but thanks." she said.

P'Li nodded, walking away as the crew started to gather themselves for the next dimension jump. 

Linking arms, the crew disappeared from this universe, bracing themselves for the next one. 

Zaheer and P'Li watched as they left. They didn't regret their choice to stay out of things, but something gnawed at their minds besides their grief. The realization that there were so many worlds where this was happening was heavy on them.

* * *

The crew squinted as the new world came into view. They found themselves in Republic City. Luckily, nothing seemed strangely out of place for now. 

"Phew," Bolin said. "Finally a normal universe." He looked up at the towering buildings. He recognized most of them. "This is like back home." He looked back down. His jaw dropped as a _hyena_ walked past them. It walked on its hind legs, as tall as he was, wearing the clothes of a businessman. 

The crew too stared for a few moments at the sight. 

"Is that a..." Lin trailed off. 

"An animal spirit?" Korra said. 

"In Republic City?" Opal finished. 

They looked around them bewildered. They were surrounded by bipedal animals walking around the street, all looking to mind their own business. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, so we got ourselves some more universe hopping! The end of the "Different Bender Universe" (Unoriginal name, I know), the whole "Red Lotus" universe adventure (Which was fun to write!) and now the beginning of the... well, guess you can say "Furry" universe... well, think of it more like something out of "Zootopia", but... ah, you'll see what me and Coniine came up with next chapter!
> 
> And to those curious, come on, do you really think Dark Korra would end up in that Red Lotus universe and NOT waste the chance to vent out some leftover anger on 'em?


	6. Chapter Five- Unexpected Reunions and Hidden Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to the amount of violence, gore and some PTSD related issues, some involving animals, in this chapter. So just a heads up.
> 
> Also, still on the search for a new co-writer, if interested, comment below and ask for either my email or tumblr account!

The crew were expecting each universe to be different in their own way, first the one where Sami was from where her Korra ended up becoming the host of Sha-Garou, only to give into his corruption, resulting in this new adventure.

Then there was the one where it was the airbenders who tried to end the firebenders to find Aang, who was one of the latter in the universe, with everyone’s bending abilities different from how they were before, along with a firebending Asami. Certainly out there, but nothing game changing.

The most recent universe they were just in was more simpler, yet most drastically different with it's Korra having been successfully kidnaped by the Red Lotus when she was younger, resulting in her becoming their most powerful member.

But already the eight travelers were thrown a curveball as they looked around this new universe, seeing that every single person in the city were animals, like they walked, talked, interacted with others, drove around and more like humans…

But they were still animals, all sorts of breeds, while the heroes were not.

“We may have a problem.” Sami noted as the eight quickly rushed into the nearby alleyway to hide themselves from the populace.

“WOAH, you called it…” Bolin whispered as he and Opal looked out at the sight of the animals walking around. “Animal universe.”

“I know, I’m surprised too.” She said back as Lin paced back and forth, trying to get a hang of things.

“Okay, how’d this happen, how is there some universe where everyone is an animal?”

She expected an answer from the shadowbender who tried coming up with a reason, but only one answer came to mind.

“... I got nothing, I’m just as stumped as you are.”

Lin gave a loud sigh as she sat down next to Kya on some wooden crates. “Okay, we’re not out of it yet, clearly nothing crazy has been happening here, so Dark Korra hasn’t arrived yet.” The Waterbender explained.

“Right, but how are we going to know where to find this universe’s Korra,” Mako began, moving his hands up and down his body. “We don’t even know what breed of animal she is, or any of us for that matter!” He explained.

“Yeah, and us being all… human will make us stick out like a sore thumb.” Asami noted before noticing Korra at her side thinking and looking up at something, which she looked in the direction and saw.

It was the statue of Avatar Aang near Kyoshi Bridge, but instead of his human form, he looked to have been a Red Fox in this universe.

While the mental image of a Red Fox Aang riding along on an airball was amusing, Korra tried to think what move would Aang make in this situation before a simple idea came to mind. One that if she was still linked to her past life, he would approve of.

“I got it…” Korra began, turning to the others. “We go to the Future Industries building here and talk to this universe's Asami and by extension, be introduced to animal me.”

There was a slight pause as the others looked at her.

“... that’s it?” Thuy asked to which Korra nodded.

“Yep.”

“But wouldn’t the people here notice the..." Bolin began before realizing what horrible animal pun he was about to make and regret. “Elephants in the room?”

“Yes, but that’s why we go by the roofs and travel there.” Korra explained, pointing up at a fire escape that led up to the roof of the building they were next to. “If memory serves right, Future Industries isn’t far from here. So we go in, talk to this universe's Asami, get in contact with her Korra and warn her about evil me!”

The others looked at her, thinking how wild the plan was, but Sami was the first one to shrug at the idea.

“What other choice do we have?”

“I’m fine with it.” Asami too agreed.

“Of course you two would agree, she’s your wife, fiancé, both!” Lin said, mixing up the last term before sighing. “But yeah, it’d be weird for all of us to be walking around on the streets, I say we do the roofs.”

With the other four agreeing, the crew began making their way up the fire escape and towards the Future Industries building, which thankfully was nearby and didn’t look any different.

Once nearby, the crew got back down on the ground and approached the front entrance of the building, where they saw behind the counter a young looking sheep receptionist taking notice of them.

And now Korra felt her plan falling apart, just now remembering they had to get past her.

“Ah, hello humans, are you lost?”

“Lost?” Lin asked in a confused manner as the receptionist adjusted her large glasses, not just that the animals spoke their language, but also wasn’t questioning how they knew it.

“Yeah, you trying to find your companions?” She asked for even more confusion from Lin.

“Wait, companions? You mean like we’re considered pe-” The Chief began only for Bolin to suddenly swoop in, covering her mouth with his hand, just hoping she wouldn’t bite, giving a silly smile.

“Why yes we are. And don’t mind her, she gets cranky if she doesn’t get her treats.”

Now Bolin was really hoping Lin wouldn’t bite his hand, but kept up the act.

“Ms. Sato has recently just adopted all eight of us, she wants to make it a wedding gift surprise for the Avatar, so she’s told the guys who sold us to drop us off here and meet with her in her office. She wouldn’t happen to be in, yes?”

Both human Sato women looked at each other as were the others, there was no way this was going to work.

The receptionist gave a curious look at Bolin before giving a smile, looking at a notepad. “Yes she is, though if I were you, I wouldn’t enter her office yet, Avatar Korra herself is in there spending some time with her during her lunch break.”

“Oh, we’ll be nice and quiet, don’t wanna ruin the surprise.” Bolin replied back just as the sheep began ruffling his hair.

“Such a cute little human, you all go on ahead, the elevator is on the second right of the hall. I’ll keep silent.”

With that, the crew made their way over and hit the button for the elevator to come on down, which was good as it looked like it was already coming down.

It was then Bolin just noticed the surprised looks on the faces of everyone at how they were able to get past the receptionist.

“... what? I figured I'd put the acting I learned doing Varrick’s movers to use.” The Earthbender simply said, shrugging. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Where was this acting in your movers?” Mako asked his brother who gave him a look before everyone noticed the elevator was just about there.

“Okay, we’ll go up and talk to animal me and Asami…” Korra began as the elevator was heard stopping. “They’ll have to believe…” She kept saying until the doors opened and she trailed off as she and the rest of the crew were slack jawed at what, or rather, who they saw inside the open elevator. “ _Us_ …”

In it were two animal people having just finished kissing each other, but it wasn’t the act that caught the crew off guard, but it was who they clearly were.

In clothes exactly like Korra’s was a canine girl, looking to have fluffy brown, black and white fur, cyan colored eyes with long brown hair tied up exactly like the Avatar’s, her ears poking out from them.

The other was a feline girl with long flowing black hair also with her ears coming out, matching her black coat of fur with beautiful light green eyes, and she too was in the same clothes as Asami, her and her lover’s tails moving around.

Just then, the animal couple took notice of the group currently staring at them, especially the two humans who looked like them, along with the other female human who looked the same as the black haired one.

Both groups didn’t know what to say, though the human Korra did make note of something out loud.

“... huh, always thought I’d be the cat and you the dog Asami.”

The feline engineer frowned, looking at the humans in front of them. "Whose owner do you belong to?" It took her a moment to notice their clothes. "And why... why are you dressed like us?" 

Sami took it upon herself to try and explain things. "We're you from another universe. I know it sounds crazy, but you need to listen to us. You don't have a lot of time before Dark Korra makes it to your world too."

The panther and the husky looked at each other, raising an eyebrow in skepticism. 

"You have to believe us. I'm the Avatar from another universe, human you." Korra said. "I can prove it."

The canine Korra chuckled. "Humans can't bend, you are so cute."

The Avatar's narrowed, almost offended. She held her hand out and produced a small flame in the palm. The two animals froze for a moment, staring wide eyed at the little flame in her hand.

"I... I may have been wrong," the Husky said. 

Korra swirled her fingers around, bending the air around them and creating a tiny gust of wind. "Believe me now?"

"You make a compelling argument," Husky Korra said.

The feline Asami looked around them, making sure no one saw what had just happened before turning back to the humans. "What was it that you were saying about not having much time?" 

Sami let out a sigh of relief that they were willing to hear them out. "There's a corrupt Avatar Korra that has the ability to shadowbend, travelling through the dimensions trying to steal the power of the other Avatars.”

“And we think she's going to come here next and we need to be prepared." Asami added.

The panther nodded. "Then you should come with us. We'll find everyone else and let them know. Except..." she looked the humans up and down. "Humans aren't taken so seriously in our world."

"Noticed." Lin rolled her eyes. 

"It's fine," Bolin said. "I told your receptionist we're your new companions."

The two anthropomorphic animals chuckled. "That works," Korra said. 

As they headed through the city, the humans stayed close to the two. The more they walked, the more they realized they were being looked at like cute little beings. One lady owl even stopped, asking the animal Korra and Asami what their names were while making cute noises trying to get their attention. The crew tried laughing it off after she passed, while Lin was growing more irritated by the minute. 

"Can't we just leave this universe, I'm sure they can handle themselves," the Chief mumbled quietly. 

"You know we can hear you even when you whisper, right?" Husky Korra said, motioning towards her ears, shaking her head. "Humans," she tutted.

They finally reached their meetup point. The crew recognized this place - it was the same noodle bar that they enjoyed back home too. 

"Oh great!" Bolin said. "I'm starving! We've been fighting all day!" 

They hurried inside. The waiter that greeted them was a tall mongoose, and he eyed the humans for a few moments. "We don't usually permit companions in the establishment."

Bolin's jaw dropped. He was so hungry he was about to complain before Feline Asami jumped in. 

"Oh, not to worry. We've made prior arrangements."

The waiter gulped, looking from the CEO to the Avatar. One powerful figure next to another, the ultimate power couple. He just bowed his head and muttered quickly, "I apologize Ms. Sato, Avatar Korra, right this way." He showed them to their seats around a round table. "I'll be back with your food shortly," he said, before walking away, pulling at his collar. He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for letting them in.

"So where are they?" Sami asked. 

The panther looked at her wrist watch. "They should have gotten the message. They should be here any minute."

Just as if she had spoken them into existence, the rest of the animal crew walked through the door. The humans stared at the strange assortment of species wearing the same clothes they were wearing.

The brothers walked over first, linking arms with their girlfriends. Mako seemed to be a grey wolf, while his brother of the same species had a darker, brown coat. Thuy was a brown furred rabbit, and she walked gingerly next to the firebender, while Opal was an adorable panda next to Bolin.

"Oh no... _that means_..." Lin said as she noticed her, looking at the door as the alternate version of herself walked in. "Dammit."

Kya couldn't help but chuckle as she saw her lover walk in as a panda too, complete with the scars on her chin. 

"You look so cute in black and white," she joked. 

Lin rolled her eyes. She then saw that the universe’s Kya was there too, and it didn’t come as a surprise to her that she was a splendid looking arctic fox. Something that Kya herself took delight in.

The animal crew hesitated before sitting down, looking around the table and trying to understand what was happening. 

"You're never going to believe this," Husky Korra said, re-telling everything Sami and Korra said.

Of course it came as no surprise that panda Lin was skeptical again, but her Korra and Asami talked her into trusting them.

The waiter came back with their food, and Bolin lit up as he saw him put down the steaming bowl in front of him. 

"Thank you!" He said, before hurrying and grabbing his chopsticks, digging into the dark colored noodles. It was only after he bit into them that he realized. Why are they so dark? The taste didn't hit him immediately, but it slowly built up. It was bitter. And salty. "What is this?" he mumbled. The noodles crunched in his mouth as he chewed.

His wolf self looked up, mouth full of noodles also. "Fishbone noodles!" He said, taking a big gulp. "Made from dry fish bones!"

The humans looked down at their bowls, their stomachs turning. 

Bolin on the other hand shrugged. "Food is food, and I'm starving." He took another mouthful, crunching on the salty bones. “Actually, the taste does grow on you by the second bite.”

As the animals ate, and the humans pretended to, they talked over their plans. Overall, the animals seemed keen to join their alliance, which was like a breath of fresh air - much needed, as the noodle shop was quickly starting to reek of the fish bones. 

Seeing an alternative self sitting across from her, Lin couldn't help but wonder a few things. She bit back her questions for most of the meal, but now felt like she just had to ask.

"So, Lin," she said, getting the panda's attention. "You, me, Panda me…” She felt herself stumbling before asking at least one question on her mind.

“In this universe do you possibly know... _Hattori Hanzo?_ "

The panda stopped eating for a moment. "Yes, I do."

Lin held her breath. "And... how is he?"

"He's fine. He’s under house arrest for the murders, but he’s taking it in stride." 

Hearing that he was still alive in this universe made Lin smile. 

The question was a little suspicious to the panda Chief. "Why? What happened to him in your universe?"

"He didn't make it."

She was silent for a few moments. Even if it was in a different world, hearing of her brother’s death wasn’t pleasant, even after Lin explained that he died protecting her from Sha-Garou’s attack. "You can meet him, if you'd like. I'll convince them to let him out. Avatar business."

Lin knew he wasn't the same Hattori she knew, but she accepted anyway, giving her animal self a nod of her head. "Thank you," she said. "That would be nice."

They finished their food, or in the humans' case, left most of it in the bowl, except for Bolin who actually ended up enjoying it in the end, before heading out.  
  
Telling the humans of what she and her human self spoke of, Panda Lin led them to the apartment this universe's Hattori was confined to for the time being. Outside the building, watching the perimeter, was a police dog, standing straight and nodding as the Panda Chief approached. 

"We're here to see Mr. Hanzo." she said. 

"Ma'am, you know he's under house arrest."

"I know that, but this is Avatar related business. He has permission." 

The dog took a moment, before nodding. The crews headed up the stairs before Panda Lin knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a confused looking black furred bobtail cat with white spots opened up the door. 

"Lin? What are you doing here?" He asked in the same voice Lin remembered of her half-brother's, seeing the strange ensemble of humans behind her. "And who are they?" 

"May we come in?" the panda said. "There's a lot to explain."

Cat Hattori nodded, letting the crowd of people into his cramped apartment as they congregated together in the living room.

Panther Asami and Sami gave him a quick rundown of what was going on, and Cat Hattori barely followed along. Then, Panda Lin stepped forward.

"Hattori..." she said, motioning towards human Lin, "This is me, from another universe."

The cat, in a white sleeveless shirt and dark pants frowned, his one gold eye looking at the human. "What? Really?"

The human Chief nodded. She was obviously a little nervous, but tried hard not to let it show. "Hi, Hattori." she said. It was a little strange, seeing the brother she only found about six months before as a cat.

Lin also noticed that his facial wounds were still here in this universe too, though he was only missing his eye and part of the area around it. He hadn’t covered it with bandages, and instead seemed to have just accepted that part of himself. Lin felt like he was accepting a lot of his past, feeling some form of pride for him.

"H-Hi." The one eyed cat stuttered a bit. While he was surprised to see the others he now considered allies in human form, seeing Lin in human form was quite a sight.

Panda Lin considered telling him why she wanted to meet him to begin with, but decided it was best that he didn't know he was dead in another universe, for his own sake. He already had a lot to deal with, being under house arrest and still getting over his own losses. She looked across at the mantelpiece. He still had the old photo of Ula and Karai there on display. 

Human Lin noticed it too. Karai was a cute little kitten and Ula a lovely polar bear in the photo.

"So you're my human sister then?" Cat Hattori said, a smile spreading on his face. "Can't say I ever expected to say those words to be honest!"

Lin smiled back. "And I never expected my brother to be a cat either."

She wasn't one for hugs, but as Hattori held out his arms out she couldn't help getting pulled into one.

The gold eyed feline, born from a one night stand between his Panda mother, the greatest earthbender of all time in the universe, and a brave Bobtail cat Fire Nation soldier who died in the line of duty, could tell there was some sort of sad reason this human version of his sister wanted to visit him.

But as much as he wanted to know about his human self, he decided not to push it so as to not ruin this Lin's happiness.

The crew watched this heartfelt moment, feeling happy for the Chief. Sure, this wasn't the Hattori she lost, but maybe his soft fur made up for it. Almost reminded her of Toshi, sans the feathers.

As if on cue, they felt the floor beneath them shake and a loud crash outside. 

"Bloody fuck!" Both the human and bunny Thuy said at the same time, both versions quickly noticing that and giving a knowing look at each other.

“Ohhhh, don’t tell me...” Cat Hattori droned out, not wanting this moment to end.

Sami rushed over to the window, trying to see what was going on, seeing the police dog that was on guard laying dead on the ground. "She's here!" she said. 

The crews gulped. 

"Then I'm with you on this one," Cat Hattori said, him and Lin breaking the hug. "Let me help, I already know how that shadow spirit bastard works."

"We'll need all the help we can get," Korra said as she looked at the others.

Panda Lin nodded. "Fine. Let’s go.” She then gave her brother a smirk as she threw to him a satchel, which he grabbed, knowing fully well what was in it. “Gonna need this, brother."

* * *

“ _I take it back about that one “Air Nation, Fire Temple” universe…_ ” Dark Korra heard Sha-Garou hiss, as she snapped the dog cop’s neck with ease with a shadow hand. “ _THIS is a more interesting one!_ "

As much as the damn Shadow Spirit got on her nerves at times, the evil Avatar had to agree with him there.

Ever since she woke up back in the temple after the few hours of sleep she got, her dreams thankfully not as nightmarish as the first one, she got out and the first thing she saw was a couple who were checking out the caves for a date.

Something which wouldn’t have surprised her, if not for the fact that the female _was a white and black colored horse standing on it’s two legs, as was the male, who looked like a squirrel._

Adding more to both Dark Korra and Sha-Garou’s confusion was the amazed reactions the animal couple gave, one asking if she was a human spirit and the other asking if she lost her animal companion.

Once she got away from the two, by sinking and moving through the shadows to the freaked out reactions of the couple, it was then both realized they weren’t that far off from this universe’s Republic City.

And just like the two before, the shadowbending Avatar realized the whole city was full of different bipedal animals living about their lives in the city, adding more to the theory that this was a universe where it was animals in control, while whatever humans she saw were either considered pets, or “Human Companions”, or wild ones living off the street without a care in the world.

Dark Korra had to admit, the universe was rather amusing, remembering once telling her Asami before… _that day_ , of an idea for a story where it was like their world, but with animals living in the city, and that there was a cute dog Asami and a badass cat her.

Her wife, while finding the idea silly, did like the sound of it.

As she moved along the shadows of the city, she sensed the energy of her universe's self was nearby and decided to strike, following the lead.

And after a few more moments, she seemed to have found the area, but was unsure which building her animal self was.

While Dark Korra looked around, a sight had caught her eyes, getting her attention.

It was two women walking down the street together, holding each other's hands. One was a tall calm Lynx lady while the other was a rather small and hyperactive bear, yet both looked happy in each other’s presence.

Dark Korra tilted her head at the sight as a young girl animal came up to them, looking like a white duckling, with the Lynx picking her up while the bear tickled the girl’s feet, all three laughing.

Then it hit her, they were the ducklings’ adoptive parents.

Before the shadowbender Avatar could focus more, she heard Sha-Garou call out to her, bringing her attention to a nearby apartment building where a police dog was standing in front of.

Now that she had focused on the building, Dark Korra realized there were two energies that gathered from the building, one her target… and the other being of the Prime’s.

Realizing that her goody-two-shoes self and her allies already beat her there, Dark Korra wasted no time, slinking over to the shadow of the police dog on guard, killing him swiftly and began making her way up, crashing through the apartment complex and running up the various floors and stairs, heading towards the apartment she sensed the energies.

But once she entered the right one, smashing through it’s door, Dark Korra saw the small cramped apartment was empty.

“Where are they?!” She asked out loud before hearing noises being heard on the fire escape near an open window, smirking.

They wanna take the fight on the roof, fine with her.

Making her way over and up the metal steps, the dark Avatar got up onto the roof, seeing the crew waiting for her, among them was a single animal person of the universe.

Her clothes certainly tipped the shadowbender who she was.

“There you are, must say not the breed of animal I was expecting myself to be…” Dark Korra smirked as she formed up her Shadow Claw, raising it up.

“Can’t disagree with you there.” Korra responded as husky Korra got by her human selves side as she got into a fighting pose as her evil human self began slowly slinking over towards them.

“Now, I don’t wanna be cruel and harm an animal…” She said before lunging at the group, almost hitting husky Korra, just barely missing her, her eyes turning red. “But with _you_ , I’m willing to make an exception!”

With a yell, Dark Korra rose her hands up, bringing forth various shadow tentacles and hands towards the heroes, only for a large burst of lightning to blast through them, rendering them back to her.

That confused the fallen Avatar as it came from the side, and she saw Mako right in front of her.

As if that wasn’t confusing enough, suddenly she felt water hit her hands and freezing instantly from the other side as her attention was on the three waterbenders, in her sight, Korra, Husky Korra and Kya!

It was then she looked at her left that it all made sense.

On one side were animal people she wasn’t familiar with for a second until she realized she was looking at Wolf versions of Mako and Bolin and a Panda Opal.

And on the other side was Panda Lin, Fox Kya and Bunny Thuy as she saw a Panther looking Asami join Canine Korra at her side, all three groups surrounding her as she was against the ledge.

“OH, I get it, you laid a trap! Clever…” Dark Korra said, not happy at this turn of events before smashing the ice off her hands and suddenly jumping towards the wolf brothers and Panda Opal with a snarl, all three getting out of the way of the attack as the shadowbender Avatar formed up more tentacles and hands to keep the others busy.

She dodged some fire kicks from Wolf Mako, only to almost fall right into some done up by the human Mako, but fell into some shadows just in time to avoid the attack, coming out of human Bolin’s to try grabbing him, when his Wolf self grabbed her and threw her away from him.

Then both earthbenders moved their hands quickly, taking some pieces of a nearby brick chimney and were able to heat them up quickly with their lavabending, thrusting out small projectiles that the Shadowbender had to raise up a shadow Shield to take the damage, one just gazing her hand, making her grunt in pain.

“OWW, ASSHOLES!”

She then just heard the electric surge behind her and dodged an electric glove strike of Asami’s, ready to come at her when _another_ rang out behind the evil Avatar, forcing Dark Korra to turn and fall back onto the ground, just avoiding one done by Feline Asami’s own electric glove.

Rolling away on her back on the side to avoid the attacks, Dark Korra noticed her own shadow moving as a spiked shadow tentacle JUST missed her face as she laid on the ground, forcing herself up to see Sami having done it, her eyes as red as her former lovers.

“OH, this just keeps getting better!” Dark Korra hissed at all three Sato women, slashing out towards them, almost getting Panther Asami, who kicked out the enemies leg.

Before the evil Avatar could react, water and liquid metal came at her from all sides, forcing her to drop into her shadow and out another against a wall, noticing both liquids still coming at her, forming another shadow shield to stop it.

Turning her head as she panted, she saw both human and panda Lin, along with human and fox Kya all working together to form up a water/metal tornado to send straight at her, to which Dark Korra belted out a large blue flame from her mouth to melt the metal and turn the water into steam.

Then the evil Avatar felt herself rise up, quickly looking down to see the human Opal, alongside her Panda self, had bended up a large gust of wind under her feet, launching her into the air.

But before Dark Korra could bend the ground under both airbender's to drop them down some floors, her wrists were suddenly tied up with tight wiring, realizing human Thuy was to blame before a Rabbit’s foot drove down onto the back of her head, its owner, Bunny Thuy landing next to her human self as they high-fived each other.

After hitting the floor of the roof hard, the shadowbender Avatar screamed loudly, using her shadow claws to break apart the wiring before pounding the ground. “ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!!” She yelled, pointing at both Korra and Husky Korra. “You get over here and FIGHT ME!”

Both the human and canine Avatar looked at each other and shrugged, Korra holding her hand out towards Dark Korra looking at Husky Korra. “After you…” She said in a polite manner before her animal self did the same.

“No, please, after _you._ ”

“Hey, it’s your universe.”

“Yes, but you’re our guest.”

“HOW ABOUT YOU TWO BITCHES FIGHT ME INSTEAD?!” Dark Korra roared out, getting tired and enraged at these mocking gestures before seeing the two drop the act, giving the now confused evil Avatar toothy grins.

“Well, if _you_ insist.” Both Avatar’s said at the same time before rushing towards Dark Korra, Korra coming with a fire punch while Husky Korra came towards with ice around her fists, forcing their opponent to regret her decision as she rolled under them to avoid the attacks.

Just then, she saw the Prime wave her arms towards her, causing waves of air to fly towards her, forcing the shadowbender to use her own airbending to stop the attack.

But then she heard a stone wall from behind her, noticing Husky Korra thrust it towards her, though the evil Avatar turned and ran up the approaching wall, jumping over it just in time to avoid being squashed against one of the walls of a nearby building.

As she landed, suddenly a large hook slammed down onto her shoulder, it’s tip just digging into her flesh as she screamed and turned to see it was connected by a long metal chain.

And saw its feline owner with a single gold eye holding it.

“HATTORI, _YOU’RE ALIVE!?!_ ” Dark Korra yelled out in shock, realizing who this animal person was as she watched him grip the chain before suddenly being swung into the wall face first, then was dragged over as the feline metalbender flowed her over into his paws as he gave a not-so-happy nod.

“YEP. Also…” He said before taking the hook out and socked the shadowbender in the face back over near the wall, giving a rather smug smirk at this.

“Fuck you, Sha-Garou.”

As Dark Korra tried to regain her footing, both of the good Avatars took the chance to thrust their fists at her, sending out large waves of water and flames at her before quickly letting out more stone and air attacks too, forcing the almost tuckered out villain to raise up a shadow shield as large as she could make it.

But the combined power of both Avatars, and the stress of having to deal with not just one version of the crew, but also their animal selves, was too much for the shield to handle and all the attacks smashed through it, sending Dark Korra back into the wall hard, landing face first on the rooftop.

Everyone watched amazed, seeing how easily they had done this, especially as Dark Korra didn't get up. She was breathing, but in pained breaths.

“Holy shit, we did it!” Wolf Bolin howled out, patting his human self’s arm, accidentally hitting him in his sore spot, making him grimace as he saw Opal come to Bolin’s aid, the wolf’s own Opal couldn’t help but chuckle. “OH, oh, sorry!”

“Nicely done.” Mako said to his wolf counterpart who gave a simple nod.

“Thanks.” The wolf said with a respectful smile before his bunny girlfriend appeared at his side and hugged him.

“You did great love.” Bunny Thuy smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, which human Thuy did the same to her Mako.

“You too.”

“Nice Technique.” Panda Lin said in a matter of fact way to Lin, who responded in a similar manner.

“Thanks, have a good partner.” She said, her hand grabbing a smiling Kya’s as Panda Lin gave a smile.

“As do I.” She said as Fox Kya knew what she meant and gave her a kiss on the lips, which the human couple looked on.

“Is it wrong to find this kind of attract-” Kya began to ask before Lin herself put her hand over Kya’s mouth.

“Quiet you.” Was all Lin said, with a slight playful smile before noticing that Cat Hattori approached them, bending the hook and chain back in the satchel. “Good to see you’re still a metalbender.”

“Thanks, I’m still learning.” He said, giving a smile back before noticing Panda Lin and Fox Kya having finished. “When my sister _isn’t busy sucking face!_ ”

“Oh, hush up!” Panda Lin said back to her brother, who gave a little laugh.

As Korra was about to give credit to her canine self as was Asami and Sami to Feline Sami, they all noticed the shadows around them vibrating.

“Oh no...” Sami realized.

“ _Oh YES…_ ”

Everyone turned their attention towards the still lying down Dark Korra, whose fingers began to move as did the rest of her body until her head suddenly jerked up…

As her cyan colored eyes turned bloodshot red with yellow outlines.

“ _Enough of this!_ ” Sha-Garou hissed out, pounding the floor as hard as it could, causing the building to shake, making everyone else fall over their feet as he forced Dark Korra’s body up. “ _Time I handle things!_ ”

And with a loud disgusting roar of anger, multiple shadow hands ripped out from the shadows, grabbing everyone in place, the grips tighter than ever as some rose both Korra and Husky Korra in the air.

“ _While my friend is taking a nap, I’m going to have some fun with you both before I take your energy…_ ”

“ _NO YOU WON’T!_ ”

Before Sha-Garou could register a move, Sami rushed at Dark Korra’s body, having escaped and formed a shadow tentacle over her own arm, slashing it at her, almost hitting the skin as the evil shadow spirit knew whose voice it was coming out of Sami’s mouth, giving an evil chuckle.

“ _Hello Khu-Shui, finally decided to play amongst the meat puppets for once in your existence, huh?_ ”

“ _Long as it allows me to ruin your stop your madness, can’t complain._ ” Khu-Shui said, her host's eyes the same as Dark Korra's, showing she had indeed taken control of Sami’s body.

“ _What did you offer her? The bride of the Avatar…_ ” Sha-Garou hissed, tilting Dark Korra’s neck with a smirk. “ _Clearly more than just saving her life…_ ” He said before looking at the struggling others, especially Korra and Asami. “ _Did you know before this Korra stole part of the Uchū Crystal, all of your friends and family tried to stop her?_ ”

Sami's head shoot as Khu-Shui yelled out. “ _Sha-Garou, NO!_ ” 

“ _SHUT UP!_ ” Sha-Garou’s voice echoed out as he bended a spike of shadows out of his own shadow and threw it at Sami’s body, almost hitting her as she dodged the projectile, making it almost hit Hattori, it just missing his face against the wall.

“AH, SHIT!”

With that distraction, Sha-Garou was able to sucker punch Sami in the stomach, driving Khu-Shui to drop down, holding her stomach in pain as she felt the air punched out of her, the evil spirit couldn’t help but giggle at that.

“ _Sorry about that Hattori, I was aiming for your sister. ANYWAY…_ ” The evil spirit continued, walking Dark Korra over to the other Avatars and Asami, raising up her gloved left hand. “ _The crystal, found by Mrs. Sato’s company after it crash landed near the Southern Water Tribe’s home, around the time I found Hattori amongst those flames. Turns out it’s able to transport matter, even large scales, to other universes. Including people._ ”

He then made the Avatar take off the glove, showing in her palm, wedged into it, was a piece of the purple crystal.

“ _I just knew I had to get a piece of it for myself…_ ”

Then the evil spirit turned to a still pained Khu-Shui, kicking her in the stomach, rolling her around as she groaned in pain. “ _But I needed Korra to finally give in to my influence, and nothing seemed to just tick her off enough, funny thing..._ ”

“Ple-Please…” The spirit heard Sami’s voice come out, tilting Dark Korra’s neck down as the shadowbender rolled over, looking up with tears in her eyes, having been forced back into control, not wanting him to continue talking. “DON’T.”

“ _UNTIL GUAN BROKE FREE._ ” Sha-Garou said with a cackle in his voice, amused by how much Sami was practically begging him to stop, kneeling and lowering Dark Korra's lips to her ear. “ _Don’t worry Mrs. Sato, I won't mention to them about…_ ”

Korra and Asami then watched the evil spirit whisper… something into Sami’s ear, neither of them, or any of the humans were able to hear what he was saying, but judging by the look of something flashing in her mind, causing Sami to cry out, her tears making her makeup run, it must have been _something REALLY horrible._

But Husky Korra could due to her better hearing, her eyes having gone wide in shock at what she was able to hear.

Something that Feline Asami noticed, which her fiancé turned and shook her head, as if telling her to keep quiet.

“ _Afterwards…_ ” Sha-Garou resumed out loud, wanting to keep that certain detail a surprise as he turned back around at the others. “ _I gave my Korra my offer, to get her revenge on Guan for what he did, to use my gifts to her benefit… and in her weakest moment, she agreed._ ”

He saw the crushed look on Korra’s face, getting some form of pleasure from it. “ _With that, Guan was dead and I told her about the other universes, that she not only had to protect her world, but the others, to prevent the same thing happening again. And to do so, she needed the energy of each one’s Avatars, all the many you’s, to which in her fragile little mind, was the perfect idea. If only she knew that just gives me more power to fully take over this body._ ”

The spirit then looked at the crystal literally in Dark Korra’s hand.

“ _But to get there, we needed the Uchū Crystal. And with so many people in the way, little ol' Korra had no other choice left to make but one…_ ”

The shadow tentacles holding everyone in place then moved up their grips, right into the back of their heads, suddenly forcing visions of horrific images into their minds as each of them felt themselves in their respective bodies as Dark Korra came at them in Future Industries.

_Mako watching himself engulfed in blue flames…_

_Bolin and Opal both impaled together up against a wall with a stone spike…_

_Kya having multiple ice spikes thrust into her back and one through her throat…_

_Lin being sliced into three pieces at the waist and upper chest area with sharp pieces of metal..._

_Thuy being strangled with her own metal wiring…_

_More and more of those Korra had met in her journey, friends, family, all suffering horrible deaths by the hands of her fallen self…_

_And then, Asami trying her best to stop Korra, only for the corrupted Avatar to slash her wife in the back deeply with a shadow claw, driving her into the ground and leaving her for dead as she took the part of the purple crystal…_

Korra gasped out, eyes widened in shock at the images she and everyone had seen this version of herself do, looking at Sha-Garou, who was making Dark Korra smile at her.

“ _My personal favorite was seeing you slashing into your wife’s back, soon to be wife, you get what I mean…_ ”

As the shadow spirit put the glove back on, Sami struggled to stand, looking at what the shadow spirit was doing.

“ _Or it would have been, if not for Khu-Shui deciding to leave the spirit world for once in her pitiful existence and save her, all in some misguided chance to try helping Asami save her love, even if she’s already lost to me._ ”

With that, Sha-Garou rose up Dark Korra’s other hand, letting it glow red as he looked at Husky Korra.

“ _But going back to business, first I'm gonna drain her energy…_ ” He said before looking back at Korra. “ _Then I'm gonna drain you, THE PRIME._ ”

But before he could turn Dark Korra’s head towards Husky Korra to begin the process, a shadow tentacle stabbed into the shadowbending Korra’s upper right shoulder, sending the spirit into a screaming fit before being dragged and thrown into the air, landing directly behind Sami, whose red eyes burned with rage, taking Dark Korra by the neck and began laying down punches onto her face, screaming without even giving the spirit a chance to fight back.

“YOU THINK I WON’T HIT HER! THAT I WON’T DO IT! HUH?!?”

With every punch connecting, a shadow tentacle vanished back to its source, freeing each of the crews as they watched Sami wail on Dark Korra.

“YOU STOLE HER FROM ME! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!” Sami’s voice echoed out, bringing Dark Korra’s face to hers. “YOU HAVE _NO RIGHT_ TO BRING UP WHAT HE DID TO ME!! _NO! FUCKING-!_ ”

“ _ASAMI!_ ” She heard Khu-Shui yell out.

“SAMI!” Asami herself cried out in distress, to which her shadowbending self looked back at her, seeing how caught off guard they were before noticing some blood on her hands, turning to see Dark Korra’s lip and nose was bleeding, along with the bleeding back wound.

“Oh _Raava…_ ” Sami muttered, getting off and crawling away as she realized just what she had done as everyone noticed Dark Korra seeming to get on her knees, looking at Sami herself, showing she was not only back in control, but surprised at this turn of events before grasping her hand with the crystal in it before vanishing in the purple light.

The crews took a moment to catch their breath. What just happened was slowly sinking in and Asami looked down at the shadowbender cowering on the floor, knees against her chest.

As she borrowed her face in her arms, the engineer walked over, squatting down next to her. She put her hand on Sami’s shoulder but she shrugged it away. 

She knew how to take a hint. "I'll give you a moment," Asami whispered, walking over to the others.

"So that was it? Did she disappear?" Husky Korra asked. "Am I safe?" 

"For now," Korra replied. "If she didn't get you now, she'll come back for you after the others. That's why we need as much help as we can get. We need to defeat her once and for all." She gulped, before correcting herself. "We need to defeat him. Sha-Garou."

The furry Avatar nodded, looking back at her crew. They were a little shaken up, but they seemed in agreement still. 

"Then we're on your side," she said. "Consider us in - whenever you need us again."

Korra smiled. It was a relief after being rejected by those in the Red Lotus universe. Also, they had finally saved an Avatar, and she couldn't help feeling good about it after two consecutive losses. 

"Thank you," she said with a bow to her furry self, who returned it with her own.

The two Kya's looked after people's bruises, but for the most part, everyone was fine. The animal healer then looked out at Sami. She was staring into space off to the side and hadn't joined them yet. Fox Kya readied her healing water as she approached her, hesitating before sitting down next to her. 

"Let me," she offered. 

Sami didn't say anything, but she did look at the healer and opened up, letting her use the water on her.

Fox Kya worked the water onto her head, and to her surprise, her thoughts felt softer, quieter, and the overwhelming guilt and sorrow dulled. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it - she was trying to understand her rage. She always said she was mad at Sha-Garou - not just mad, but _furious_ \- for taking her wife away from her and turning her into a monster. But now, she was afraid of realizing she was also furious at Korra. She hadn’t realized it, but deep down, she was angry that the Avatar had given in to his coaxing so easily.

It hadn’t been her fault. They were both devastated after what happened that day. 

But all those thoughts, all those feelings, felt like they were being washed away with the warm water against her temples, and her mind started to clear. 

The animal healer knew what she was doing. 

As the two crews chatted, talking strategies, or just asking questions about each other's universes, Cat Hattori walked up to the human Lin. 

"I think that whole thing interrupted something," he said. Although she hadn't told him, he started to get an idea of what must have happened to him in Lin's universe that warranted her reacting the way she did.

He himself barely survived in this universe after saving Panda Lin's life since the wound wasn’t as deep compared to his human self. The thought that in some other world he died doing that was sad, but also somewhat heartwarming one. To know he at least died protecting his little sister. "I was busy meeting my human sister!" He still chuckled at how funny that was to him, pushing the sad thoughts to the side. 

She smiled. "It was good seeing you again, in a way," she said. "I'll buy you some catnip if you visit us."

His eyes widened. "Lin! _Keep your voice down!_ Aren't you a cop, how do you have access to drugs anyway?"

The Chief furrowed her brows. "Drugs? It's not. It's... It's just a plant." She took a moment. "Though so are actual drugs, actually."

Cat Hattori shook his head, laughing. "Oh Agni, you humans are crazy! I'll take you up on the offer though. Never thought I'd get high with my police chief sister."

Panda Lin frowned. "Who said _anything_ about getting high?" 

"Nothing, nothing." Cat Hattori said, before turning to human Lin and winking his single eye at her. 

Human Lin wanted to refute, but decided against it. This universe was... growing on her. She wondered how her mother would take to have a son from an alternative universe who was a cat. Heck, the image of her mother meeting her panda self would be worth it.

Sami finally stood up as Fox Kya put her healing water away. 

"Thank you, Kya" she said to her, forcing a small smile. 

"There's no need. You can come to me any time for that…” Fox Kya began, as her human self, came over, knowing what was up, but agreeing.

“Or me, either of us will be there." 

The shadowbender nodded slightly. She looked up at the animal and human healers, with so many things in her mind that she wanted to talk about. It must have been the comforting energy around the waterbenders that reminded her of the Kya from her own universe. The memory of her talking to her and Korra when they came out was still fresh in her mind, as though it happened yesterday. To think how much things had changed was overwhelming yet again, and she pried her thoughts away from it. 

As the two Kya’s joined the others, she loitered around the edge of the group. 

" _Stay focused, Asami..._ " she heard Khu-Shui say in her head, trying to be as soothing as she could with her voice. " _Don't let him get to you. Sha-Garou will want to get in your head, and losing control like that only turns things out in his favor._ "

She knew that. She knew. 

"It wouldn't be called losing control if I could have helped it," she whispered back. 

Strangely, she spotted Cat Hattori walking up to her. 

"So you've got crazy shadows that talk to you too, huh?" he said. "Guessing Khu-Shui finally decided to come out of the spirit world then?" 

Sami smiled, almost feeling the shadow spirit eye roll.

Cat Hattori's expression turned serious though. "Listen, about what Sha-Garou was saying..." He felt terrible for Sami, he really did. "About Guan. I am so sorry." He looked back at everyone else, realizing she probably didn't want them to hear this so he leaned and whispered his condolences for what he believed happened to her. 

The shadowbender was moved that he cared, despite never having met her, but he got the wrong impression. "Ah, it wasn't what you think," she said. "I promise it wasn't _that_. But thank you Hattori for saying that."

The cat was both relieved that his suspicions were wrong but also worried in case the real event had been worse. Either way he smiled and nodded. "Anytime kiddo," he said.

“Wait, I have a question…” Sami realized and said as the one eyed feline listened, ready to answer. “I know you had to deal with Sha-Garou, but… was it worth it? Becoming a shadowbender?” She began asking, holding her hands up slightly, both seeing the shadows shiver around them. 

The former shadowbender gave it thought, remembering all those he targeted and killed, some whose blood was innocent, and how he almost lost control of his mind, body and soul. “You and I both have different reasons for becoming shadowbenders. I had sought revenge, to take the lives of those who caused me to accidentally murder my family before doing the same with me. More or less, I was all set to sell my soul to some evil spirit just to get it.”

The cat closed his eye, licking his paw before rubbing it on his forehead. “But it took me having Tarkik right where I wanted him to realize all shadowbending, this goal of mine, had brought me was nothing but pain and regret.” He then opened his eye, taking note of Panda Opal gushing over Human Lin, while the human airbender was doing the same with her Panda aunt, both Chief’s seeming both annoyed, yet amused.

“It wasn’t until I was freed of that damn spirit that I was truly able to move on with my life, with a family I never knew about, yet turns out to be exactly what I needed. To be freed of all my rage, my hate… _my regrets_.”

The image of his wife and daughter came to mind before Cat Hattori looked at Sami, who had been listening to every word. “But _you_ , I can tell from the start you didn’t choose to become a shadowbender because you wanted to end Sha-Garou, though you may as well consider that a bonus.” He said, trying to give a forced chuckle which he knew wasn’t landing, even if Sami knew what he was trying to joke about before getting back to topic.

“No, you allowed Khu-Shui to save your life and make you a shadowbender, because deep down, even if you think your Korra’s too far gone at this point and you might give into the rage… You still care for her, you still love your Avatar, and you want to free Korra from that fucker’s influence. Your reasoning is more noble than mine ever was. So in your case, perhaps being a shadowbender is worth it.”

Hearing these words from someone who had experience with this form of bending and shadow spirits, even if he was a cat version of the one shadowbender from her universe, Sami felt at ease, if just briefly.

Sami herself, despite the many times she’s said Dark Korra was too far gone, realized she wasn’t sure if that truly was the case. Maybe it was possible to save her, maybe it wasn’t. But she had to try, she just had to, even at the cost of her own life.

“Maybe you’re right… thank you Hattori Hanzo.” The shadowbender said, giving a small hug to the surprised feline.

“It’s ah, Hattori _Beifong_ , and you’re welcome.” The animal man said, patting her back as he gave another quick look at his panda sister and niece.

Seeing the scene of Sami busy talking to cat Hattori, Husky Korra addressed the rest of the crew. "Did she ever tell you guys what happened? With Guan?"

The crew shook their heads. 

"It must have been pretty bad," Asami said. "She didn't want to talk about it."

"Oh," Husky Korra said. "I _see_."

"Why?" Bolin whispered. "What did you hear?"

The furry Avatar considered whether she should tell them, looking at the shadowbender, making sure she wasn't listening. Perhaps she didn't want them to know. But perhaps knowing would help them understand her pain better. 

"It was an injury she had gotten when Guan and some loyalists attacked Republic City apparently," she said. "At the time it happened, I think..." She gulped. Spirits, it was difficult to even tell it, let alone live it. She didn't know if she should finish.

* * *

After the last few preparations, the crew was ready to hop into the next universe. They said their goodbyes to the animal crew, before gathering around Sami, waiting for her to take them into the next world.

"I… I'm sorry for what you saw." The shadowbender said, wanting to put them at ease as she prepared to begin the jump. “I just… felt so much… hate and anger being being built up and-”

But her reasoning was hushed when she felt Korra and Asami put their hands around her’s.

"It's okay, if anything, you helped save me and canine me." Korra responded with, not wanting the other version of her soon-to-be wife saddened over her actions.

"And we're all thankful for that." Asami said to her shadowbending self, who took a deep breath and managed to give a smile, not forcing it, but a calm one.

"Thank you."

With those words as the crew grabbed each other's hands, Sami activated the crystal and they vanished once more into the purple energy.

Having witnessed that, Panther Asami looked at her own soon-to-be canine wife, curious at what she witnessed she tell the others earlier.

"I heard you Korra, you _didn't_ tell them the truth." She said, pointing to a surprised Husky Korra's tail. "When you lie, your tail repeatingly moves in a half-circle."

The Husky Avatar sighed, feeling a sense of sadness come over her as she pictured what she heard Sha-Garou say to Sami as she begged him not to.

"I was going to, but… _I couldn't_." Husky Korra said, lowering her canine nose. "What I heard Sah-Garou say, it… it's bad. What Guan did to Sami…" Husky Korra explained, having the mental image of the same happening to her Asami, feeling her fists clench. "Just even thinking of it happening to her, happening to you… I… sorta see why Dark Korra gave in."

Panther Asami stood there shocked to hear her fiancé admit that, seeing how horrible Husky Korra felt for saying that last part. “I hope to the spirits that we never have to face that situation, because if we do, I don’t…” She trailed off, remembering what the Sha-Garou of her universe showed her doing to Guan, closing her eyes, not wanting to relive the memory of seeing herself rip the metalbending tiger to shreds with her teeth and claws.

“What did he do to Sami?” The Feline engineer asked the Husky Avatar, who realized what she had to tell before looking into her love’s eyes and finally told her what she heard the dark spirit mock the Shadowbender with.

The panther's light green eyes widened as she heard the truth, feeling a slight pit in her stomach as she felt it.

"... no, _he didn’t..._ " was all Panther Asami could say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, brand new chapter is done with! Our trip into this, more or less, "Zootopia" inspired universe is done with and our crew has saved a Avatar! A point for the good guys! Yet Sha-Garou shows he still has his own evil motives Dark Korra has no knowledge of. And just what DID Guan do to Sami that finally caused Dark Korra to... well, "Go Dark Korra"? Well, not gonna say... but those trigger warnings ARE there for a reason people.
> 
> Please give it some reviews and hope you enjoyed it, see you next sunday!


	7. Chapter Six- One Arm and One Eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to references to and a scene of harsh violence, some against a minor, some references to prejudices against the physically disabled and an implication of homophobia/transphobia in this chapter. So just a heads up.
> 
> AND GOOD NEWS! I've found me two... well, techically three, but one had already agreed to help with a scene later on, writers to help me finish up what I and Countconiine had started! Currently ironing out details, but the story will be finished! WOO!

As their eyes started to focus on the world they came to, the first thing that hit them was the sound of crashes and yelling. They had to squint as they realized the buildings around them were on fire. The daunting realization that they might be too late was setting in. 

"Shit!" Sami said. "We need to hurry." She took off down the street as the others followed her. 

Tracking the Dark Avatar down wasn't hard. Even from a little way away they could spot the shadow tentacles rising amongst the buildings, writhing violently against this world's people.

Rounding the corner, they came face to face with the chaos. 

Police officers scrambled away from the scene, bleeding and injured, while some attempted to crawl away before being grabbed and impaled by the shadows. It was difficult to even understand what was happening at first, but standing at the midst of it all was this world's Avatar, desperately trying to fight Dark Korra off. 

"Oh..." the Fallen Avatar's voice rang out. "Seems like you have backup." Her red, glowing eyes drifted to the crew, and instantly, she flung her shadows towards them. 

"We need to get over there!" Lin yelled, using a cable to cut apart the tentacle that lunged towards her, only for another one to sprout up. 

"You think?" Korra shouted back, fighting against the shadows that surrounded her, that somehow seemed stronger than before.. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted someone crawling along the side of the sidewalk. Something about her was familiar, enough to get Korra to turn her head for one moment.

It was this universe's Kya. She looked beat up, but she didn't have time to look for long, having to focus back on the shadow appendages. 

Sami rose up her own shadows, fighting back against Dark Korra's. She drew the darkness in around her, forming a dense shell of contracting shadows, rising in density.

As the hostile tentacles were ready to strike, she let go of the energy she formed, releasing a circling storm of shadows around her, disintegrating anything that came close to her. She paused to catch her breath, enveloped in this cloak of dark shrapnel as she rushed over to the Dark Avatar. 

This world's Korra was losing her strength. Every attack she lashed out at the invader was weaker and weaker, and she struggled to hold her ground. Dark Korra approached her, before spotting the other shadowbender. She scowled. 

"You learnt a new trick," she mocked, chuckling. "It's adorable."

Sami rose her fist, conjuring a shadow claw and hurling it towards her. 

The Dark Avatar grinned, holding her hand out and stopping the claw dead in its tracks. Sami struggled against it, their two powers fighting each other for control of one shadow. 

Seeing this, this universe’s Avatar regained her balance and gathered her last strengths to hurl a fireball at Dark Korra, but she saw the feeble attempt coming. With her spare hand, she parried the flames with a shadow arm, before hurling it at the Avatar and coiling it around her, holding her arms stuck to her side as she writhed. 

"What are you gonna do, Asami?" Dark Korra said, eyes full of malice as she watched the shadowbender struggle against her, sweat forming on her forehead. "Aren't you just as bad as me? Didn't you want to kill me too when you were hitting me like that?" 

Sami's breathing quickened. 

_"Don't listen to her, Asami..._ " Khu-Shui said. " _Don't let her get to you. Sha-Garou is telling her what to say._ "

"Look at us," Dark Korra continued. "Do you ever wonder what could have been if you didn't turn against me? After what happened?"

"You... tried to kill...me..." Sami grunted, trying hard to stand her ground. 

The Fallen Avatar smirked. "And I'll try again." She pushed against the claw, and the engineer's strength gave. She was forced to jump out of the way as the shadow crashed into the ground.

Sami landed on the floor with a thud, feeling the impact against her ribs. She took a painful, labored breath before looking up. Dark Korra had the Avatar of this universe, her glowing hand moving up towards her face.

"No!" Sami yelled. There was nothing they could do, and she nearly wanted to shut her eyes to avoid seeing another Avatar die. Instead though, Dark Korra stopped dead in her tracks. 

She watched for a few moments. She wasn't moving. Suddenly, her limbs contorted and she seemed to be struggling against herself. 

"What... The fuck..." the evil shadowbender grunted, writhing and struggling to talk. She forced her head to turn, looking around for the culprit. The shadows froze too. 

The crew stared wide-eyed. There was a _bloodbender_ among them. But this world's Avatar was bound tightly in the shadow arm, and the officers fleeing didn't have it in them. 

Their eyes shifted to one tiny piece of movement on the other side of the road. Lying on the ground, holding herself up on her shoulder and arm stretched out in front of her _was this world's Kya_ , a pained expression on her face. 

“Let… _her… GO!_ ” She strained out, using the forbidden waterbending technique on this intruder.

Dark Korra was taken by surprise at first, but realizing who was doing this to her almost made her chuckle. 

"Kya, you... old trickster..." she lips contorted into a smile. "Finally, something... interesting."

The waterbender's attempts were honorable, but her bending was fading with her injuries and Dark Korra started to fight against it. Her body shook as she forced her hand up, hurling a sharp shadow spear towards the healer. 

But then Korra sprung into action, rising up a wall on concrete to stop the spear from impaling her, but in the process this Kya lost control of Dark Korra, flopping back to the ground with a grunt. 

The Dark Avatar laughed, turning her attention back to everyone as she regained control of her body. She rose the shadows again, grappling with the crew as she approached this world's Avatar again. 

"Where were we?" She said, her voice low as the other version of herself whimpered and struggled against the grip of the shadow, fighting with what strength she had left.

There was something so sadistic about draining her energy like this, but Sha-Garou's presence in her mind numbed her to it. She held her glowing hand out, pressing it to the side of her struggling head, and that was all it took. 

Sami wrestled against a shadow tentacle, its pinpoint sharp tip inches from her throat as she struggled to put it away with two hands, before suddenly it went limp and vanished into the air. She took a deep breath, looking around her.

The crew looked sullen as their Kya rushed over to bloodbender Kya. This world's Avatar's body fell down on the concrete, lifeless. 

And Dark Korra was gone.

They failed again. They were too late. 

Kya knelt down next to the injured waterbender. It still hadn't fully sunk in that her alternative self was a bloodbender, but none of that mattered as Kya was instead overly focused on finding her injuries. It was obvious some of her bones were broken, probably after being hurled across the street judging by her state, and as she helped her sit up... 

"Spirits," Kya said. "She ripped your arm off." She gathered her healing water up quickly, looking to stop the bleeding that she expected, but realized there was no blood running where the missing limb should be, trying to process this... 

The bloodbender squinted up, trying to understand what was happening. Did she hit her head? Was she hallucinating herself? She noticed this alter version of herself trying to understand how to heal her arm and she couldn't help but chuckle. 

"I was born with _only_ one arm. Focus on something more important."

Kya raised her eyebrows in surprise but she wasted no time in tending to her real injuries instead. 

It didn't take long for the bloodbender to realize the Korra she knew was dead, and the grief was starting to set in. Her bruised chest was already making her breathing painful, but the swelling of sadness growing inside her felt like sharp knives in her throat. 

"She's... She's gone?" she whispered. 

Kya didn't know how to answer. "Let's focus on yourself for now," she said. She could feel the distress building up inside the woman, who shook her head.

Quickly moving her hand towards her own waterskin, this one armed Kya used her bending to take the water from it and formed up an arm and hand where she was missing the limb, attempting to crawl over to the body to both Kya and the crew’s surprise.

"What the FUCK!?!" 

The crew’s attention turned at the sound of a man's gruff voice behind them. 

"Someone please tell me what in the name of both Agni and Raava just happened here?!" He took in his surroundings, a small team of police officers walking up behind him. He noticed the dead bodies of the cops littered around the street, then he looked in shock at the one-armed Kya crying over her Korra’s body,.

“Oh no, what happened Kya?!”

Lin had held her breath, seeing this version of her lover in the state she was in, but then she held it more when she saw this man's face.

His voice seemed a bit different, but she would recognize _that face_ from anywhere, but this time... she was looking at a man in a police uniform rushing over to this Kya, seeming to console her as she said his name in distress before turning to see the crew having been watching the scene.

Before he could process seeing a second Korra along with two different Asami, his eyes, _one gold and the other light green that was glazed over_ , settled on Lin, almost choking his words as his brows furrowed. "H-How is this possible?"

A shaking officer spoke to him. "What do we do, Chief Beifong?"

Lin's eyes widened. " _Chief_ Beifong?" 

\----------------

In what seemed like another part of the city, the purple energy light formed in an alleyway and Dark Korra came out, ready to do some more energy draining, but something caught her attention.

“Wait a second…” She began, looking around the area. “This is the same exact alleyway I was just in. In fact…”

Slinking over in the shadows near the entrance, from inside the shadows, Dark Korra could see nothing was changed, except for the sirens wailing towards one direction.

And she knew exactly where they were headed.

“This is the same universe!” She said in disbelief, stepping out of the shadows.

“ _The crystal…_ ” Sha-Garou’s voice spoke out as Korra looked at her gloved hand and took it off, seeing the purple crystal in her hand, spotting the slight crack in it.

“Oh no, it’s broken! I’m trapped here!”

“ _It’s not broken. Just a little dinged up, just needs some time to get back to full power._ ”

“And how long is that going to take?!” Dark Korra asked annoyed at this.

“ _Hopefully speaking, at least half a day, longest-_ ”

“Half a day is the shortest?! Those bastards could be in the next dimension right now waiting for us!”

“ _It’s no issue Korra, none whatsoever._ ” Sha-Garou assured her, knowing there shouldn’t be any real issues. “ _Besides, this would be the perfect time for some rest for you._ ”

Oh, now the spirit was telling her to take a break, after complaining about it in the last universe?!

“ _Yes I am…_ ” Sha-Garou deadpanned, making the evil Avatar groan, remembering it knew her every thought. “ _You should be happy they arrived just as you were draining this universe’s Korra and got lucky with them focusing on that bloodbending Kya. In the state you’re currently in, you couldn’t take another defeat._ ”

“Then why didn’t you just take control again? Because you seem pretty willing to do so.”

“ _The amount of time in between when I could take control is much longer than that of the Uchū crystal, on the count of you being the Avatar._ ”

Dark Korra sighed and slinked back into the shadows, knowing she could rest there without being bothered.

But even though she knew he’d know it, what it just said, the amount of time taking control of her due to her being the Avatar, it did get her attention.

 _Slightly_ , but it did catch her attention.

* * *

After the body of this universe’s Korra was taken carefully away by Nishi, who this universe’s Kya had finally allowed to be taken away, the crew were taken by her and the Chief of Police, _Hattori Beifong_ , over to the police station, where they tried to get their bearings together over what just happened.

Inside Hattori’s surprisingly large office, Korra and the others took in the police station that seemed so familiar, especially to Lin and Mako, but it had its differences.

One difference made quite clear to Mako and Bolin was that here, their choices in lives had them switch careers outside of helping the now slain Korra as part of this universe’s crew.

It was this universe’s Bolin who was the detective working alongside Hattori, but still maintained his colorful, if silly outlook on life. Yet his humor didn’t get in the way of his police skills as he earned himself quite the reputation of being a damn good cop with a good successful case quota.

And to Opal’s happiness, her alternative universe self was still together with this Bolin, so she was thankful for that, along with this universe’s Hattori being so nice to her.

As for Mako, he found out his other self here turned his career into Movers, but strove to not only do the kind that this universe’s Varrick loved to do, the cheap fluffed up pieces of him as Nuktuk, but serious work too, earning high praise for his performance as Avatar Roku in a biography mover about him. Even if some creative liberties were taken compared to the man’s real life self.

Also to Thuy’s joy, her other self was apparently still with this Mako here.

But it was this universe’s Bolin who had to give his older brother the bad news, Sami and Opal noticing the cop trying to hold back his tears when he made the call.

“Right, while Bo… talks to his brother…” Hattori said, feeling bad for the guy, turning his attention to the larger problem at hand. “Let’s get to the bigger picture, why are you eight here, who in the world was that… other You?...” He asked, making sure he was pointing at Korra before looking at Lin, his words starting to fall apart. “And… why are _you_ … how is-”

“ _Do you want the short or long version?_ ” Khu Shui’s voice came out of Sami’s mouth as the spirit took control, causing Hattori to jump out of his seat.

“WHAT THE FLAMEO- _she’s_ involved too!” The Chief responded with, remembering when he ventured with his Korra and the others into the spirit world when he had to go against that damn spirit Sha-Garou who had been corrupting _her_.

“If it wasn’t for Khu-Shui, we wouldn’t have seen Dark Korra coming.” Thuy said to which Hattori repeated the nickname for clarification, Opal sighing at this.

“I know Uncle Hattori, unoriginal name, sounds like something Varrick would come up with, but our Korra would be dead if not for her.”

That made Hattori pause in place before nodding, hand out to the spirit in control of Sami. “Point well made, okay, give me the short version Miss. Shadow Spirit.”

The spirit then explained, in a even shorter manner than before, how things came to be with the other Sha-Garou trying to take over Korra, part of what caused her to give in, what she has been doing, how the crew got involved, and how they already been to other universes, only managing to save one Korra, but rounded up others for when they’d have to take the fight to the shadowbending Avatar, and finally how they ended up here.

While the spirit explained the story, Kya herself spotted the other Kya, this… bloodbender version of herself sitting in the corner of the office, seeming to keep to herself.

Appearance alone, this Kya was already different. Aside from the obvious lack of her right arm, she had on darker makeup around the eyes which she had been wiping off with her water hand after it got ruined. She also had her long grey hair not in the Water Tribe braids and ponytail, but more in a simple looped ponytail.

But it was her personality that showed Kya how truly different she was from her. The healer could see the anger and bitterness in her eyes, like she had seen a lot of things, done a lot of things, which contrasted to how she reacted to this universe’s Korra’s death.

Kya saw the sadness and despair coming from her at losing Korra, like she was a mother who lost her child.  
  
It was most obvious when this universe’s Nishi, who somehow stayed his odd self, came to collect the body, everyone watched as this Kya told him not to screw up transporting the body, or else Nishi would be the one being looked at.

The master waterbender wondered what was it that caused this version of herself to be this cynical, noticing how this Kya’s own energy wasn’t as vibrant as her own. Just what drove this version of her to learn and master a dark form of bending that Kya remembered her mother forbidden her to learn, having told her the experience with Hama?

As for Lin, all she could do was keep her eyes on this… _different_ version of Hattori she was seeing listening to every word of the spirit’s story.

She knew just from his voice who he was, along with those two mismatched eyes, but it still surprised Lin to see Hattori look so presentable.

His hair was trimmed down to a respectable short length, his large beard had been cut down to a clean cut goatee and he was wearing almost the same uniform she was wearing, with obvious alterations made.

And while she knew what Hattori looked like before his injury from his old photo, it still amazed Lin to see him without the massive wound, with his single blind eye and ear intact.

But there he was, Hattori Hanzo, or, "Hattori Beifong" as he's been called here, sitting in the seat she would be sitting in back in her own universe, with a familiar looking hook and chain on the desk.

The metalbender also took notice of various old photos on the desk, some of which caught Lin by surprise. One showed him as a small child standing next to their mother, who held a baby Suyin in her arms in front of her parents home.

Another had him in his young teens sitting in front of a water fountain with this universe’s Kya, Tenzin, Bumi and even Suyin. She guessed that this was a few years before when she and Suyin had their big fight resulting in her scars. But from the photo, both brother and sister looked happy in this universe.

What got Lin’s attention more as she leaned closer was the presence of a fifth person in the photo she didn’t know at first until she spotted the familiar little hairpiece in that long black hair and the set of glasses over the girl’s gold eyes.

_Was that freakin’ Fire Lord Izumi?_

The third and final photo she saw was Hattori, having to be 19, standing with her mother and Suyin, in a policeman’s uniform, having just graduated from the academy. Again, both mother and sister were happy…

Then something peaked her attention about all three photos, scanning her eyes through them.

Why wasn’t _she_ in any of these photos?

Hattori sat there after a small beat of silence, having just heard the entire story, finally putting his two pieces in. “I admit, that’s… quite possibly the craziest story I’ve ever heard. BUT, I believe in what I see with my own two eyes…” Then he felt silly saying that phrase, pointing at his one blind eye. 

“Sorry, you get what I mean. And what me and Kya, the one I know, saw today was some evil bitch version of Korra, no offense to Mrs. Sato if she’s listening...” He noted, being informed that Sami could still hear him while Khu-Shui was in control. “... kill the Korra we knew by stealing her energy, along with seeing walking and talking copies of others we know, INCLUDING another Korra and two Asami’s, and why are you looking at my pictures?”

He asked that last part towards Lin, whose concentration had been broken, looking at the version of her half-brother talking to her.

“I, ah… sorry, they’re lovely photos.”

“Thank you, Lin…” Hattori said, nodding his head before resuming talking to others, including Sami who had taken back control. “Speaking of which, the part that’s been bugging me the most is how _she’s here._ ”

Hearing Hattori say that threw Lin a bit of a loop, who looked at the others.

“She’s with us.” Mako answered as the Chief in the universe gave a facepalm.

“I know that smartass. I mean is she from another universe, like a different Lin?”

“No, I'm from their universe.” Lin answered, getting Hattori’s attention. “I’m Lin Beifong, the chief of the police in Republic City there. In fact, in our universe, you were the Equalist-”

Then it dawned on the metalbender who stopped talking as Hattori took notice of what she was about to say, turned her head back and forth from the photos of Hattori and the man himself.

“... earlier you asked how it was possible…” Lin asked, gulping at possibly hearing what she was hoping not to hear. “ _What_ did you mean by that?”

Chief Hattori Beifong, having just started to realize what was happening once she said her name, stood up from his desk and walked over to the door to his office, everyone just now noticing above it on the wall was a plaque holding up a single katana in its sheath.

Taking it carefully off the wall with his hands, Hattori then walked over to Lin and handed the weapon into her hands as she was confused at this action before noticing the blade was a Hanzo original.

But it wasn’t the same one she remembered her Hattori wielding and later using his metalbending to turn into a new weapon, this one had a dark shade of purple adorning it alongside the gold and black, in contrast to the red of the original sword.

“Lin Hanzo…”

Hearing her first name with that surname made Lin’s eyes go wide as the others watched in silence, with her looking up at a solemn Hattori. “That was _your name_ here.”

Lin quickly looked up at this other version of her brother, one thing on her mind. “Lin… _Hanzo?_ ” She repeated, looking at the others, who were just as surprised before turning her head back. “You mean-”

The Chief of this universe nodded, kneeling in front of her. “Yes, you were the shadowbender, the Equalist Ripper…” Then with a look of sadness in his eyes, he lowered them. “You died saving my life, sister.”

The two officers looked at each other for a moment. The air felt heavy with their mutual realizations of what happened in each other's universes. 

"We'll give you two a minute," Kya said, rounding the crew up and heading outside into the corridor, with the bloodbending Kya followed them out too. 

“I’ll see ya in a bit, One-Arm.” Hattori said, and the blood bender waved at him half heartedly. 

Once they were gone, she had to ask. "So I was... I was the Equalist Ripper. I killed those people?" Lin gulped hard after letting those words be said. 

Hattori nodded. "And I suppose I died the same way in your universe?"

"Yeah. You saved my life too."

A cheeky smile spread across Hattori's face. "Then I guess we're even."

Lin couldn't help chuckling a little. "We are."

This was different from the animal universe somehow. This time she got to see her brother for how he truly was - or how he truly should have been were it not for his death, if not having been given up by her mother when he was born. The absence of his facial wound felt like she was seeing his full self.

Perhaps he thought the same thing about seeing her whole face too as she noticed he noted something about her face.

"So... err..." Hattori started. The initial shock of seeing Lin was fading, but he was still at a loss for words. "How was your life? How did things go for you?"

Lin raised her eyebrows at the question. It seemed oddly personal and out of the blue. The metalbender across from her noticed her surprise. 

"I just wanted to know... how my sister's life might have been if it hadn't gone so..." he nodded to the side, trying to think of a light way of putting it. "So tragically."

Lin understood. She racked her brains for something to say - she was terrible at keeping conversations going that were about herself but she tried, for her brother's sake. "My... _Our_ mother, Toph, taught me to metal bend when I was young and I followed in her footsteps to become a police officer in Republic City. Me and Suyin never really got along too well..."

He nodded along to everything she was saying. "Sorry to hear that."

She waved her hand. "Eh, it's fine. We're alright now. But you... or Hattori Hanzo I should say... we never even knew he existed until he came back to life with Sha-Garou. We never really spent enough time with him to get to know him properly. Especially since we first knew him as the Equalist Ripper. But we gave him a proper burial in Zaofu." She felt herself getting emotional but she tried to hide it. She shifted the attention back to Hattori. "So how were you?"

"Not too shabby myself. I got along nicely with Suyin and mother, following in her footsteps just like you." He smiled, remembering his happy youth. "You know, I went travelling with Suyin once or twice. We toured the Earth Kingdom, saw the sights, and spirits know the shit we got into." He chuckled.

Lin smiled also. It was somewhat frustrating to hear that he got along with their sister so much better than she did, but she was happy for him. Perhaps he and this Suyin didn't make the same mistakes that Lin and her sister made in theirs.

"Actually, it was not too long after that I..." he sniggered awkwardly. "I might have gotten into a thing with…” He continued, pausing a bit as he felt a bit embarrassed to admit it, resuming in a small voice. “... the future Fire Lord Izumi too."

At that, the Chief's curiosity peaked. "Izumi? Really?” She then turned back to look at the photo of the two with the other three, it made sense now.

Hattori rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah well, we just sorta connected... it was nice and all, but it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe I got this from Mother, but royalty was never for me anyway.” Out of all the memories, _that one_ still stung, more than he’d want to admit. He wasn't ready to unbox that box of feelings yet, no matter how long it had been.

“AH, h-how about you though? Anyone caught your eyes?"

Lin sighed. Her romantic life was her least favorite topic. "Well... I dated Tenzin for a while. And now..." she tried to hide her blush. "Now I'm with Kya. Ironically his sister."

Hattori couldn't help but laugh. "Trying to get with all of Aang's kids? Is it Bumi next? HA!" 

Lin clenched her fist but she secretly found it amusing too. 

“Haha, but no, me and Kya… we got a good thing going on, think she may be the one.”

Hattori's happy expression was slowly dwindling and she could tell he was starting to think of something else.

"You know..." he said, "This whole thing is crazy. To think that Lin Hanzo was... essentially me... in another universe." He shook his head in disbelief. "It hasn't sunk in, I'm not gonna lie."

Lin felt the same way. "So, Lin Hanzo..." she said. "How was she?"

"Well... what can I say? Her hair wasn't as fancy looking, and she had way more scars than you, and was missing her left eye." He smiled, trying to get Lin to laugh, but the Chief was as stone faced as he expected. "Hehehehhh, right. I do wish I'd have gotten to know her a little better, but well, as you’re aware, she was the Equalist Ripper. I remember bringing her into the interrogation cell where she explained her background after she was given to the Hanzo family by Mother. She was a non-bender, trained in dual katanas by the man who raised her, something which the most skilled of Hanzo’s didn’t practice.”

He then pointed at the katana on the desk. “That was hers, Sha-Garou broke the other one during the battle.” Lin looked at the sword in amazement as Hattori continued. “She said that she grew up to have a relationship with a woman called Sakura, even marrying her. Then she joined the Equalists and well... we know they didn't last long, did they?"

The two Chiefs snorted and nodded like their mother before Hattori resumed the story, his voice more serious.

"Well, turned out Sakura was a firebender, but even though Lin put her into hiding... it wasn't enough."

Lin nodded, seeing how Hattori was remembering when the Sha-Garou he knew told the story of how the other Lin accidentally stabbed her lover with her swords. So that was Lin Hanzo's story.

"As for Hattori Hanzo," she began, "Believe it or not, his story was similar, but he had a wife and daughter named Ula and Karai. His daughter ended up being an earthbender. Can you believe it? It skipped a generation." Hattori raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth rising in a smile, he always liked the name ‘Karai’. "And... yeah. You can figure out what happened."

They thought about everything in silence for a moment. Things had been difficult for both Hanzo's, that was for sure, but they both knew both were happy in death, able to be with their loved ones.

"Well, I'm glad I got to meet you," Hattori said, standing up. "I know you're not the same Lin I knew, but it's still nice getting to talk to you sister."

Lin stood up too, before pulling this version of her brother into a hug, surprising him, though he allowed it willingly. "Yeah. You too brother..."

A moment of silence went by as they held each other until Lin decided to break the moment with a sly smirk.

“You know the universe we were in before this one, it was full of talking animals and you were a bobtail cat?”

That bit surprised Hattori, who slightly broke up the hug to look into her smug looking face. “What? Seriously?”

“Yep, and my animal counterpart was a Panda.”

* * *

Out in the corridor, the crew gathered round, as bloodbender Kya reluctantly joined the circle. They could tell she was devastated, and they stood in silence for a few moments, trying to find a way to start a conversation.

"So," Bolin said," How did you become a bloodbender?"

Opal glared at him shocked. "Jeez Bolin, read the room," she whispered under her breath. 

This Kya of this universe looked at him dejectedly and sighed. "Probably similarly to how your Kya did."

The group's attention was drawn to their healer, but she shook her head and held her hands up in defense. "Oh no, I'm not a blood bender, nooo..."

"Really?" The bloodbender's brows furrowed. "So the universes are different in this aspect too." She supposed she had no choice but to explain it. "Katara showed me. It was... it was alright at first."

It was probably not a good time for questions, but the crew's curiosity got the best of them. "At first?" Korra said.

The bloodbender nodded. "It was a powerful tool she said, especially when the moon is full, for when something went wrong and I needed to defend myself or someone." She gulped, remembering what happened. "You may have noticed I was born without an arm. It made for some... _unpleasant_ comments from the other children growing up."

The crew listened in silence, almost figuring out where the story was going. This Kya's voice wasn't as steady as she would have liked it to be. After everything that happened today, especially having to see the Korra she knew be slain, she felt especially vulnerable.

"There were some nasty names they called me. But there were some good ones too." She smiled. "’One-Arm’ is what Hattori always called me, and still does. It sounded catchy and it never affected me. Maybe because I could always call him “One-Eye” in return.” She noted, knowing that out of all her friends, Hattori was the closest due to their similar disfigurements. “Plus, it’s kind of badass sounding, so feel free to call me that." 

The crew nodded, knowing it sounded like a good nickname.

"But there was one kid... he wouldn't let it go. He just kept shouting and screaming “Nubby! Nubby!". I hated hearing that every time he saw me…” One Arm Kya shook her head, taking a deep breath, holding up her one hand. "So I decided to show him what it felt like to have only one arm."

Silence fell across the group. 

Asami was the first to speak. "You... You broke his arm with bloodbending?" 

The one armed Kya shook her head. "I wish it was just that. No. I... I ended up bloodbending both his arms _and legs_ into a sick necrosis." Her voice shook a little more and her bottom lip quivered. "I didn't tear ‘em off. It was the doctors that had no choice but to amputate. They were too far gone. But I-I didn’t mean to go..."

Despite having confessed to the tragedy, she felt Asami's hand on her back. 

Thuy spoke up too. "Eh, the bastard had it comin' if you ask me!"

"Thuy!" Mako said. 

"What? He did!"

The blood bender smiled a little for a moment, wanting to agree, but just couldn’t before turning distressed again. "It strained my relationship with Katara, definitely. She refused to show me anything else relating to waterbending, so I taught myself in secret from then on." 

She used her hand to warp the water from her waterskin onto her shoulder, forming herself another arm out of the water. "Like this."

The crew starred as she demonstrated her new limb. It worked almost identically to a real arm before she put it away again. 

"That's impressive," Kya said seeing how her other self could do it with ease, it did certainly reminded her of Ming-Hua, only without the prospect of getting diced up with it turning into ice blades.

“Thanks.” The one-armed Kya replied. “After that, I vowed that I’d never use Bloodbending unless the time called for it, like you saw today. I’m just thankful that Hattori managed to talk me into joining the force to somewhat cleanse my mind, not what my parents expected, but they accepted it… well, at least Father did at first.”

Kya couldn’t help but be more curious, being careful how she asked the next thing, her tone a little hesitant. "Why did... Katara teach you to blood bend to begin with? She knew how dangerous it was, how it’s banned." She used Katara's name just as her other self had done, realizing she wasn't calling her "mother".

The blood bender knew this question was coming anyway. "The short answer would be that she trusted me with it. But the long one is that she explained to me the limits in how I should use it, and the damage it could do. I knew I shouldn't use it unless it was an emergency, and that using it otherwise would be a horrific thing to do to somebody.”

This Kya thought back to her mother explaining to her younger self of what happened in the past with the Bloodbender known as Hama, not wanting her daughter to go down that dark road. “She prepared me well but... it just wasn't enough as things turned out. She shouldn't have trusted me with so much and she realized that - hence our..." she struggled to find the right word for it. "Our _struggling_ relationship."

Kya nodded. It was saddening to hear, especially considering how close her and her mother had been in their universe. "Are you two... still not alright?"

"Well... we're better than we used to be. It's strange. She doesn't blame me so much for it as much as she blames herself and..." she chuckled awkwardly, "Sometimes I wish she would just be mad and blame it all on me. I can't stand seeing her feel guilty. Father would try being the middle ground along with my brothers, but it still wasn’t easy between us two.”

This other Kya then thought of something, giving a light sigh. “Then again, so’s having a daughter, and we always get things wrong, don't we?" She looked up at Kya. 

The healer was taken aback again, and the blood bender noticed her surprise. 

"OH… must be another thing that's different," she noted. 

"What? You have a daughter?" Kya asked her. 

The one armed waterbender looked up sadly. "Yes... she-"

She was interrupted as the door to Hattori's office opened. Lin and the Chief walked out. Their "reunion" seemed to be over, and the crew was back to work. 

Before they headed back out, Hattori spoke up. "We should let Asami know too. About Korra," 

The crew gulped. Delivering the sad news was never easy.

"To Air Temple Island!" Officer Bolin said, holding his arm out and leading them outside, as if trying his best to use his humor to cope with the situation.

"Air Temple Island?" Korra frowned. 

"Damn," Sami said as she and Asami looked at each other. "We’re an airbender in this one?"

"Airbender _trainee_ , kiddo. Don't get ahead of yourself." Hattori said, chuckling a little. 

* * *

As they made their way towards the island, Korra had noticed two things. First was seeing the distressed looks on both Asami and Sami’s faces, more than likely having to deal with seeing another version of themselves react to the news of her lover being slain.

It wasn’t easy the first time, it sure as shit didn’t get any easier the second time. Maybe that’s why Korra somewhat envied the Asami from that Red Lotus universe as due to events turning out as they did in it, they had never gotten together, let alone ever met.

Even though they never met her, at least that Asami Sato was spared the heartbreaking news.

What Korra also noticed was the one armed Kya trying to steal herself some glimpses towards her, pretending that she was looking at something else when the Avatar tried to ask what was up.

She figured that it had to do with the Korra that they failed to save, like she reminded the bloodbender too much of this universe’s Avatar. Something which the girl wanted to give her condolences about, but with what she knew with about the older woman’s life, this Kya needed some time for herself, so she let her be.

Then the crew, along with Hattori, one-armed Kya and Officer Bolin arrived on the docks of the island, seeing Tenzin waiting for them, along with someone who looked familiar.

It wasn't until the crew got a closer look that they saw it was this universe’s Asami, clad in an airbender trainee uniform, her long black hair having been trimmed down to just around her neck.

“Huh, shorter hair suits you.” Korra whispered to Asami, who playfully nudged her back, Sami having to give a smile, if because they knew they needed some form of humor before having to give the bad news.

Both Hattori, his Kya and Officer Bolin told them to stay on the ship as they exited it, approaching the Airbender master who welcomed his sister and friend with a hug as the trainee Asami hugged the Bolin she knew.

“What brings you three here?” Tenzin asked, curious as to why they were here on the island before noticing the grim looks on both the faces of the Chief and his fellow officers as they sighed, knowing this was going to be rough. “What happened?”

“Tenzin, we… come with bad news, for both of you.” Hattori began saying, which got both Airbender’s attention as Kya felt her eyes get wet once more, Bolin putting his arm around her shoulder as she choose to continue for him.

“... she’s dead… _Korra’s dead._ ”

The looks of shock and surprise those still on the ship saw forming on the faces of Tenzin and Asami was heartbreaking, especially from the latter who watched in disbelief as One-Arm Kya dropped to her knees, letting out more tears.

“Wha… what?” The Airbending Asami tried to ask as Tenzin himself looked at the scene of his sister pouring out her soul on the dock, looking up at his long time friend for confirmation, getting a sad nod from the Chief along with one from Bolin.

“But how? How could this be?” Tenzin asked, trying to get an answer. “Who did this?”

“Was it that son of a bitch Guan?” The saddened Asami asked, her emotions running high, feeling her hands clench, closing her eyes, feeling a gust of wind slowly form up around her. “Did he kill her? Cause if so, I’ll-”

“Trust me, it wasn’t him.”

The airbending Asami’s eyes widened as did Tenzin’s as they heard the voice of Korra ring out from the ship, choosing to get off as did the others, which made both Airbender’s confused at the sight of.

“What the? Wait, you two just said…” Tenzin asked, seeing this other Korra in his grey eyes, ready to believe that it was some sick joke the two adults were playing until he noticed something off about this Korra he was seeing.

Not the fact that there were two other Asami’s following her, or another Bolin for that matter, but it was the eyes of the Avatar, something which too got the trainee’s attention as she slowly approached Korra.

“... you’re not her… you’re not my Korra…”

Asami and Sami approached the two, allowing their airbending counterpart to take notice. “How’d you know?” Sami asked as the third one pointed at Korra’s face.

“Your eyes are Cyan… my Korra’s eyes are Teal… which means she’s…” This Asami tried to finish, but felt tears sting her eyes more, but fought back, looking at the three. “Tell me who killed her.”

The group wasn’t sure how to break it, especially due to who it was that did the deed, so Sami gave a deep breath as she closed her eyes, opening them up again to show both airbenders the sight of her dimly glowing red eyes.

“My wife.”

Hattori, having been watching this, shook his head, knowing another story needed to be told, turning at his old friend. “Tenzin, do you have any liquor hidden on the island? Because we got a long story for you two, and Air Nomad tea won’t cut it…”

Him and Bolin then looked at their bloodbender partner still on her knees as the cop Bolin clicked his tongue. “And I think some of us are in serious need of it.”

Tenzin, realizing how serious both of his otherwise humorous acting allies were being as was everyone else, nodded, kneeling down to comfort his sister. “Everyone, please follow me.”

* * *

After getting everyone settled in Tenzin’s meditation room, having Tea prepared for them, along with the master airbender indeed taking out a bottle of Earth Kingdom Wine and some glasses from a hidden compartment behind a bookshelf, Khu-Shui was allowed once more to explain the situation to the two airbenders as to what happened involving Sha-Garou and Dark Korra.

During all of this, the airbender Asami sat closest to the bloodbender Kya, sensing that out of everyone, she was the one who needed the most support and vice versa. That and they were the only ones drinking the wine.

Korra, Lin and Kya also noticed that for as much as this version of Tenzin tried to hold in his emotions listening to the spirit, he looked to be ready to break out into tears at losing both a former pupil and a good person in his life.

“ _I’m sorry for your loss, both of you, but we arrived too late to stop her._ ” The spirit finished, her voice full of sorrow for these humans, at this point, the crew, especially Korra and Asami could tell this was not some ploy of false symphony, but sincere regret.

“ _As powerful as I am, as strong willed as this Asami is… we were not enough to save your Korra…_ ”

“Khu-Shui, thank you for your condolences, you both and the others tried your best.” Tenzin answered back as he gave a sad nod to the spirit inside the Sato woman from another universe, who felt like she could do more. “Our Korra was a brave girl, never backing down from her duties.”

“Did… did she at least put up a fight, did she go out fighting?” The airbender Asami asked, having already drank two cups of the wine to numb the emotional pain, which was only half of what the One-Armed Kya consumed, the effects as not obvious due to her being able to handle her alcohol more.

“ _Yes, until the final breath Ms. Sato…_ ” Khu-Shui responded with before a voice rang out from the hallway.

“Asami? What’s wrong?”

The crew’s attention turned to the entrance to the room where they saw a familiar figure from their past stand in the doorway.

“You gotta be fucking kidding…” Lin muttered to herself as she and the others were seeing someone they had never expected to run into.

It was _Hiroshi Sato_ , the same man who had died years ago to save Asami, now standing there seeing his airbending daughter with Tenzin and sitting next to the one armed Kya.

“I heard crying earlier and…” He began, only to notice the others in the room, including the other two Asami’s, one who was holding the hand of a Korra he wasn’t familiar with and another whose eyes glowed red, forcing him to ask more questions. “What happened, what did I miss?”

“Father… Korra’s dead.” The saddened Asami said as she got up and sprinted over to her father, needing to hug him as hard as she could to his surprise. “Oh spirits, she’s dead…”

“It’s okay, I’m here…” Hiroshi said, trying to calm his daughter down, letting her cry, himself surprised to hear who would have been his future daughter-in-law had passed away.

It was only then Khu-Shui realized that this version of the Sato woman had a ring on her finger, similar to one the regular Asami was wearing.

Then the spirit looked down at Sami’s hand, taking off the one metal glove to see on her own finger was the wedding band her Korra had given her on their wedding day.

The spirit felt… some form of sadness, she felt for these humans unlike Sha-Garou, but… this was a different kind of sadness.

“ _It pains me to do this, having to go from universe to universe…_ ” The spirit began speaking once more, her voice almost cracking. “ _Trying to prevent Dark Korra and Sha-Garou from killing another Avatar, and failing most of the time…_ ”

Then the spirit felt actual tears roll down Sami’s cheeks, never experiencing this sensation before as she felt them with her finger, looking at it.

“ _Even when one is saved, another falls by their hands… I… I hate this feeling it gives me._ ” Khu-Shui admitted, trying to hold these new form of emotions. “ _Even worse than that, is having to see the faces of all those who have to hear the news that their friend, their student… their lover has been taken from them… with no hope of coming back. No matter the universe._ ”

“Don’t forget their daughter.” The one armed Kya’s voice spoke out, getting everyone’s attention turned towards her as she prepared to drink a fifth cup of the wine, but dropped it before the liquid touched her lips, turning to the spirit in control of Sami.

“Korra was _my daughter_... I was _her mother._ ” The Bloodbender admitted to the crew’s shock, especially both Korra and Khu-Shui, watching the older woman as she gave a sad sigh. “I had to watch my daughter have the energy ripped out of her.”

Kya was floored by the idea that in another universe, she was the mother of the Avatar, turning her head towards Korra, who looked back at her, the waterbender then looking at this universe’s Tenzin and Hattori who themselves stood speechless at the development. “But, wait, did you two know about this?”

Both men looked at Kya, shaking their heads before Hattori himself looked at his partner, he didn’t need seismic reading to know the truth. “She’s not lying.”

“OF COURSE I’M NOT LYING, YOU ONE-EYED ASSHOLE!!” The single armed Kya lashed out, throwing the cup to the wall, almost hitting both Bolin’s, freaking them out as she closed her eyes.

"Years ago, nine months before my father passed away, me and Hattori were celebrating arresting some sex traffickers at a bar. There I saw Reiko…" She explained, remembering the beautiful brown haired woman from the Southern Water Tribe, having been in the city on vacation. "Me and her, we first started chatting it up, buying each other drinks and next thing I knew, me and her were going back to her hotel room, falling onto her bed. As we took off each other's clothes-"

"Excuse me, but where is this going?" Hiroshi asked a bit confused before the bloodbender quickly turned her head at him in anger, quickly silencing him so she could continue.

"It turns out that Reiko _wasn't just a 'She'..._ " She pointed out in a matter of fact tone, not wanting anyone to interrupt her story as she remembered more of the past, almost giving a chuckle as she had normally preferred the company of regular women at the time. "But that didn't matter; she didn't see me as some one armed cop lady, I didn't see her for… someone who had _more_ going on between her legs than she should have. We just both saw each other as beautiful and sweet."

Lin and Kya were surprised to hear that this Kya's love life was far different than the healer's, not that they or anyone in the room was judging, it just never came into their minds.

"Wait a second, I remember Reiko." Hattori noted. "How come you never told me or anyone else about… her... you know?" He asked as he remembered meeting the woman before, never catching on what her true sex was, seeing his fellow officer turn to him as he tried to approach the subject as best as he could without sounding like a jackass.

"No offense, but it wasn't yours or anyone else's business at the time, simple as that." The bloodbender simply answered in an attempted smirk that failed, resuming her story. "Anyway, turns out what was the beginning of a four year relationship, was also the beginning of another life as that night, our child was conceived."

Then the woman sighed, remembering what happened next. "We were happy to find out the news while we were up in her home up near the Southern Water Tribe, along with also finding out from the moon spirit that our child would be the Avatar, which yeah, weird to find that out before my father's death, but we didn't care…"

One Arm Kya then closed her eyes. "While there, we then happened to bump into some friends of Reiko's…"

She then looked right into Korra's eyes. " _Tonraq and Senna._ " The Bloodbender watched the Avatar's eyes become wider at this, sniffling a slight bit. "Turns out they had been trying to have their own child for some time, but were not able to conceive one."

The Bloodbender then looked down at her stomach, feeling where she remembered her baby bump was. "Add in the fact that some ignorant assholes may not be so keen with the idea that the next Avatar would be born from not just the lesbian daughter of the previous one, but also a newhalf, a woman born with male genitalia…"

Korra watched as the one armed Kya stood up and walked over to her, putting her hand on the girls' shoulder. "Me and Reiko decided that it was best, once the baby was born, to give it to Tonraq and Senna, so they could have the child they otherwise would not be able to have. A baby girl they would name Korra."

“Did I… Did your daughter know the truth?” Korra asked the saddened Bloodbender, who shook her head.

“I always wanted to tell her, in fact, I was planning on bringing Reiko to the wedding as my plus one, so we could tell her…” She said, tearing at herself for not telling her daughter the truth sooner, knowing she died never knowing. “But now, the only ones who even know the truth is everyone in this room, Reiko, Tonraq and Senna.”

“And me…” Another familiar voice echoed out as everyone looked at another archway into the room to see _Master Katara standing there_ , having heard every single word her daughter said from behind the wall, along with all of what the others went through.

“Okay, who else is gonna come through here?” Lin whispered to Kya, who lightly elbowed her in the stomach to hush up to her surprise.

The one-armed bloodbender looked at her mother, then at her brother rather confused. “How long has she been here?”

“She came by yesterday, I… kind of forgot to mention that.” Tenzin admitted, feeling embarrassed.

“It’s alright Tenzin.” Their mother said as she and her daughter kept their eyes connected on each other, Katara watching her Kya, whose relationship with her was still slowly building back up, walked up to her, regret in her eyes.

“Katar…” The Bloodbender began, only stopping what she began to say to properly make things right. “MOTHER... I’m so sorry I never told you or the others, that Korra was-” She tried explaining only for Katara to quiet her with a hug, not caring about how the past was strained or what mistakes were made.

“It’s okay Kya… I understand…” Was all the master waterbender could say, two tears forming from her old eyes as she held her daughter as the others watched.

Khu-Shui, having been in complete silence during all of this, felt Sami’s gut drop at this revelation, knowing exactly why.

“Khu-Shui, are you still there? Or is it Sami in control?” The One-Armed Kya asked, to which Sami’s eyes returned back to their natural color.

“It’s me…” She said, back in control.

The bloodbender slowly broke her hug from her mother, turning back to Sami and the rest of the crew, a newfound look of determination on her face as she wiped the tears off her face.

“When you all leave, I'm going with you.”

This caught everyone off guard as Kya approached her alternative self. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me two armed me, I'm coming along.”

“But you barely survived Dark Korra before!” Asami pointed out as the bloodbender smirked, taking out the water from her waterskin and formed up her water arm, watching it move it’s hand and fingers.

“That was when I kept blaming others for all my past mistakes…” She said, turning back to her mother, giving her a slight smile to which Katara knowingly gave one back, nodding as she turned back. “But now, I’m ready to make sure no more people suffer like me because of that damn shadow spirit.”

Hattori, having been off on the side during most of this, looked at Lin, quickly remembering what the evil spirit had cost the both of them in their respective universes.

It was then he quickly made up his mind, taking the bottle of wine off the ground and drank a large gulp from it before taking the hook and chain from the side of his belt around his waist, grasping the chain in hand as the hook fell to the ground, walking forward to his long time friend.

“Then if you’re going ‘One-Arm’, so am I.” The metalbending Chief said, with it being Lin’s turn to be surprised.

“You really want to risk being liquefied through universe jumping to fight Sha-Garou again?” She asked, which got her a smirk from her brother from another universe as he held up the hook.

“That spirit fucker also took both our siblings away from us, spirits know how many Korra’s and quite possibly take that girl’s wife he's already taken.” Hattori said, pointing at Sami. “Along with more if we don’t fight back. I’m coming.”

Lin couldn’t help but give a smile at the different version of her brother.

This made everyone one else happy to hear as Korra turned to look at Tenzin. “So, take it when the time comes, you’ll have our backs?”

The Airbender master gave a simple nod, looking at his mother and sister finally reunited. “You’ll have more than me…” He then gave the Avatar a rather knowing smile similar to that of his father as he looked at his mother, who knew what he was going to say. “My family, my mother, every airbender on the island will all be proud to be at your side.”

“So will I.” The airbending Asami agreed, approaching the other version of her lover, her father by her side.

“I don’t know how much help I could be, but I’ll try building up some machines to help with the fight, Avatar Korra.” Hiroshi offered, nodding his head, knowing the risks. “I’m still paying for my past mistakes, but it’ll be an honor to help you all defeat the spirit who took my daughter's love away.”

Korra could see in the man’s eyes behind the glasses he had truly changed, making her wonder what more the Hiroshi she knew could have done to help if he hadn’t died to save his daughter's life, giving a nod back to him.

“Thank you Mr. Sato.”

The elder Sato gave a smile at the Avatar, his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Please, call me Hiroshi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends chapter six on a universe with HUGE CHANGES! Like, so many, Hattori and Kya being cops (Each with their own differences from the original, I.E. this Kya being a one armed bloodbender), Lin having become the Equalist Ripper and passing away, Hiroshi Sato still alive (And sorry to disappoint some people who always make him out to be a piece of shit in their fics, not judging you, but he's a changed man and for the better), Asami being a airbender, Hattori turning out to have been in a relationship with Izumi (Sorry IzumixBumi fans, promise to make it up to you all) and biggest of all... KYA AND LIN AREN'T TOGETHER IN THIS VERSE! T_T Oh and Kya turning out to be the mother of this universe's Korra due to her relationship with a trans person, originally having a strained relationship with Katara. XD And it also looks like Khu-Shui is learning to be human... hum...
> 
> Alot had been changed in this verse, with both me and Coniine deciding the branching off point in it being that it wasn't Toph giving birth to Hattori first and giving him to the Hanzo's, but it being Lin who was the firstborn. I say that as while it's canon for Kya to be older than Lin, in this universe, it's later established that Kya was born a year after Hattori, so the ages may be a big smugged up. And seeing as this is a different Hattori, I personally thought that instead of Brad Dourif voicing this Hattori, it'd be John DiMaggio providing his voice as more gruff, lower, but snarky and funny at the same time. Honestly, if Brad couldn't do it, John would be a perfect replacement.
> 
> Lastly, as to how Kya and Reiko found out their Korra was gonna be the Avatar while still pregnant with her... I dunno, "Moon Prism Power"? (Shameless excuse to make a Sailor Moon reference) Aside from the beginning of this chapger, the next one will be mostly dialog/backstory focused, especially with THE BIG REVEAL next chapter (Yeah, there's been alot of reveals each chapter, we like surprises), so keep a eye out for next sunday!


	8. Chapter Seven- This Is What It Feels Like

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPECIAL EARLY CHAPTER UP DAYS EARILER?!! WHA?!? Will explain more at the end of the chapter.
> 
> Also, MAJOR Trigger warnings ahead with this chapter, BIG TIME TRIGGER WARNINGS due to references to and scenes of graphic violence, including a scene of torture, disturbing content including a terrorist attack, executions and... well, I can't say what ONE THING warrants a trigger as it'd be a early spoiler concerning the plot, but It'll be obvious the second you guys read it. So just a big heads up, okay?.

This Tenzin was kind enough to let the crew stay for dinner. After the trip to the "noodle" bar in the animal universe where Bolin was the only one who willingly ate what they served, they sure were in need of some good, preferably human, food. 

Despite the initial shock, Pema and his children welcomed them to dinner with them. It was also a delight to find that even in this universe, Pema's cooking was downright divine. 

As they were finishing up their food, Pema stood taking their plates. 

"I'll help you," Asami said, taking hers and the rest of their crew’s with her to the kitchen. 

"Thank you," Pema said. "I'm not used to feeding so many people at once," she chuckled. "Though it does sometimes feel like Meelo eats for a whole army."

Asami smiled. Even in this universe the young boy was... still Meelo. 

"You can leave them there on the side," she said, nodding towards the plates in the engineer's hands. She paused for a moment before turning the water on. "Just... when they join the fight... look after them, ok? They're just kids." 

Asami looked into her eyes, her heart dropping as she saw the tears welling up inside them. She nodded. "We will, Pema. If they’re like the ones I know from my universe, which I’m sure of, they’ll be fine"

Pema forced a smile, knowing she meant it. "Thank you."

The engineer put the plates down and nodded, heading out and giving her space. As she stepped out into the corridor, she spotted someone turn the corner and head back into the meditation room. She didn't feel like joining the rest of the group yet anyway, so she followed them. 

Cracking the door open, she peeked inside. She froze as she saw Hiroshi standing by the window, gazing outside at the island's scenery. It would have looked beautiful if he didn't know his future daughter-in-law was dead. 

Hearing the door's hinges squeak open, he turned his head, and it was too late for her to turn back now. He saw her, and smiled. 

"Hello," he said. It was strange seeing his daughter so differently, and from another universe no less. "Come in." 

She felt her heart pounding in her chest, but his invite eased her nerves a little. She walked up to him, almost cautiously. It took everything she had not to let her emotions run wild - there had been so many nights where she had dreamed of seeing her father again. Maybe part of her never got over his death, refusing to believe her whole family was... gone.

"Hi," she said back. 

Hiroshi wasn't naïve. He noticed her nerves from the get-go, trying to understand them. What had happened in her universe that was so different for her to feel nervous around her father? 

"I never thought this could be real," he said. "That not only there were multiple universes, but that we could travel between them as well." 

"It shocked me at first too." 

Luckily, he had an idea to get her to feel more at ease. "What device are you using to do it? Do you know how it works?" 

Asami smiled, feeling a tinge of sadness in her chest. "The other Asami figured it out better. It's something to do with the oscillations of matter. Changing the frequency takes us to another dimension, somehow." 

"Interesting. I wonder if we could build one ourselves in this universe."

"It requires some sort of special crystal. An Uchū crystal." Talking to her dad about how things worked opened a whole floodgate of memories. Her father, even in this universe, was still the intelligent man that taught her everything she knew. 

He looked into her eyes. As much as she tried to hide it, he saw the tears she was holding back. "What happened, Asami?"

She gulped, her throat aching with the sadness welling up inside her. "You died in my universe." Her voice shook as she said it. "In the fight against Kuvira's colossus, saving me in the process." 

Hiroshi let out a sigh. He remembered the fight for Republic City in his own universe. He had only narrowly escaped himself, but his brave actions that day pardoned him of the crimes he committed while being an Equalist. He hated the court's wording, having said "brave actions". There was nothing brave about it - it had been his duty to his daughter after having hurt her and her friends. 

Realizing that, one question plagued his mind about her universe. "Did he ever get to tell you how sorry he was?"

A tear rolled down Asami's cheek as she nodded. "He did." She wiped it off with her sleeve. "It's just... I wish he was here with me still. I want to tell him so many things. So much happened and he... he'll never get to see it."

Seeing his daughter so upset, despite being a different version of her, plucked at Hiroshi's heart too. Even after everything that happened, he couldn't imagine not being there for his Asami, through anything, good or bad. He took his alternate daughter's hand. "What did you want to tell him? Tell me."

She looked up at him. His eyes and round glasses were the same as she remembered. For a single moment, she felt like it really was him. "I went to the spirit world, like I'd always wanted."

He smiled. He remembered his own Asami's holiday with Korra, but he acted like he'd never heard it before. "Really? How was it?" 

"It was nice. I went with Korra. She showed me around and-" she chuckled a little. "A huge spirit threw us off his back after we thought he was a rock."

He laughed with her. 

"Also..." she continued, her sadness slowly diminishing. "Me and Korra are engaged. We have been for a little while."

He brought her hand up so he could see her ring. It was so similar to his own daughter's but he was happy for her now. "That's lovely. When is the wedding?" 

"In a few weeks. I'll be Mrs. Sato then, and Korra will be 'Avatar Korra Sato'."

His daughter never got the chance to get married to the woman she loved, but hearing this from Asami filled his heart with joy again. "I'm so happy for you," he said. "And I'm so proud of you."

Hearing him say that, she couldn't hold her feelings back anymore. She sobbed fully, and Hiroshi himself was tearing up. He pulled her into a hug, patting her back, letting her cry into his shoulder. 

The amount of times she had dreamed of getting to hug her dad again kept her awake some nights, but this time it felt real. For a few moments, her own father was back with her and she got to feel his warmth again. 

* * *

They hung around the table for a little longer, all around just having a rest more than anything. Chatter was hard to come by when there were people grieving the loss of a loved one, but the atmosphere was easing up more and more. Hiroshi had slipped away when his Asami went back to airbending training. She said doing something would take her mind off things and that was that. 

"We should probably get going soon," Sami said, wary of the fact that they couldn't let Dark Korra get ahead of them. 

The crew was in agreement, but as Pema came back, Asami didn't. Korra frowned. She couldn't have gotten lost - the island was the same as in their universe. Maybe something happened?

Just as she thought that she saw the engineer walk back in the room. She was relieved, until she realized she looked like she had been crying. 

"Brilliant, we're all here," Sami said. "Is everyone ready to go?" 

Asami nodded along with the crew and they said their thanks and goodbyes to Tenzin's family before heading outside. 

As they walked Korra whispered to her fiance. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," she muttered back. "I got to talk to Hiroshi for a bit."

She figured something like that must have happened. She had been there during Asami's own nightmares late at night since then and held her when she couldn't sleep because of what still plagued her about his death. 

"I feel so much better now," she continued. 

Korra was relieved to hear that and took her hand in hers. 

Sami got the crystal ready, looking out at the crew, now including the One-Armed Kya and Chief Hattori Beifong, congregating around her in the courtyard. She was ready to tell them all to link arms, when her head suddenly throbbed, and she felt awfully light headed. 

* * *

Khu-Shui looked out at the small blue spirit approaching them. She recognized her - it was one of Tenzin's children, Jinora. She weaved through the crew and walked up to the spirit.

"I've never met a shadow spirit before," the child said.

Khu-Shui was taken aback for a while. " _And I never met someone so young who could talk to spirits like this._ "

Jinora smiled, seemingly taking it as a compliment. "I sensed your unease before. I could hear what you were saying about losing another Avatar."

The spirit didn't know what to say. She almost felt embarrassed that a child would hear an eternal feeling so bad for something.

"This wasn't the first time you lost a Korra, was it?"

She shook her head. 

"You're not like Sha-Garou. You care for people."

If this airbender would have asked Khu-Shui this before everything happened, she would have laughed and sniggered 'no'. Now, she wasn't sure what to say, but the answer was becoming increasingly obvious. " _I don't know how you humans handle all these emotions all the time._ "

Jinora tilted her head, an understanding smile spreading on her lips. "We don't. We cry and break down all the time." She turned her head to Asami. The crew was confused as to what was going on with Sami, but the engineer's eyes were still shiny with the remnants of the tears she cried. "Sometimes we go through the most terrible things, and we lose it in the most explosive ways." She turned back to the spirit. "But we come out stronger every time."

Khu-Shui sighed. She couldn't believe she was listening to a child lecturing her about the way things were, but she had to admit she was telling the truth. 

"Empathy is a strength, not a weakness," Jinora continued. "It's something you have that Sha-Garou doesn't and you shouldn't try to fight it. In the end, you'll come out on top because of it."

The spirit nodded. " _Thank you little one._ " she said. She felt like she understood herself a bit better now, and the things she felt. She could possibly channel the sadness and sorrow she experienced into a type of power that her shadow counterpart never had. 

Jinora bowed her head. "Have a safe journey," she said, before disappearing. 

Khu-Shui took a moment, before letting Sami have her consciousness back. 

The engineer blinked twice. She was looking down at the ground but there was nothing there.

"You ok?" Korra asked. 

The whole crew was looking at her concerned. 

"Yeah," she said. She frowned. "Not sure what happened there." She did know what happened, who spoke to the shadow spirit in her, what they said, what she got out of it. But she was back now. "Everyone still ready?"

They nodded. 

"Link arms then," she said, before powering the crystal back up. 

* * *

In another dimension was another Republic City, but it’s look was different. It wasn’t the booming city landscape that was with Satomobiles, steel buildings or even paved streets.

People rode around in ostrich horse drawn carriages, the buildings were made of wood, brick or a combination of the two and the roads were laid in cobblestone.

The chimneys bellowed out smoke into the sky as people walked around in different attires, from the proper suits and fancy large dresses the rich wore to the more practical and less expensive attire the poor wore.

And on the shingled roof of one high building, the bright purple energy light shone out in the night sky.

But it wasn’t the group of travelers looking to stop the shadowbending Avatar that landed on the roofs, but the very person they were after, who looked shook her head upon landing.

“Stupid crystal took too long…” Dark Korra said to herself before noticing the odd kind of roofing she was kneeling on, noticing how it was made of smaller pieces of unfamiliar material.

Then she looked from the roof of the environment around her, this didn’t look like the Republic City she knew. Or any others that she’s seen.

From those made of a shiny chrome metal, organic plant based to even one made of clay, Dark Korra had taken sight of all sorts of different Republic Cities, but this was new.

She took notice of what these buildings looked like, how these civilians looked and acted, the lamps on the streets looking to start being lit by candlelight in glass cases. Then Dark Korra noticed a large factory nearby which looked to have large metal gears on it’s side moving in sync.

“This is so… beautiful…” The shadowbender said, amazed to see how simple, yet unique the city was.

” _Eh, it’s alright…_ ” Sha-Garou’s snarked, not being as amazed as his host. “ _On your right._ ”

The fallen Avatar moved her neck and head to look at what the spirit was telling her and saw something that at least resembled something from her home.

It was Kyoshi Bridge, possibly, but it didn’t have the high large high metal beams connecting curved beams and cables in the middle, instead having big towers holding them up.

And in between them were parts of the bridge, two of them that looked to be lowering down to connect, again done through those gears.

Dark Korra then also took notice of the large stone statue of a familiar figure.

It was Avatar Aang, or at least it was him in what looked like a coat, shirt, pants and shoes, while wearing a brimmed cap, holding up his staff, his arrow tattoo still noticeable.

“Okay, so this is certainly Republic City…” Dark Korra noted before having that feeling once more, looking behind her in the direction of a large row of buildings, looking to be from the rich side of town, where the spirit portal was, especially a big mansion.

“ _If I had to guess…_ ” Sha-Garou’s voice rang out in Dark Korra’s head, as said evil Avatar nodded, smirking.

“She’s that way.”

In the area where the Dark Avatar ventured, inside the mansion, her other self of this dimension stood in a hallway lit by candles as she looked inside a room.

This Korra saw the woman she loved doing something they never expected they’d be able to do, smiling at the sight.

“So, are things all better now?” This Korra asked, seeing her wife turn around to look at her, standing there in her beautiful dress adorned in different shades of reds and black, seeing her light green eyes shine in the candlelight behind her curled up hair.

“Yep, just a bad nightmare.” The Asami Sato of this universe said as she closed the door, giving a smile as she approached Korra, holding onto her hand as the Water Tribe woman stood in her clothes that fit more with a paperboy on the streets, with her jacket and cap being obvious tell alls. Though Asami herself thought the Avatar made the outfit look good on her.

Both women kissed each other before holding each other’s hands as Korra smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass, I’ve had my fair share of ‘em when I was younger.”

“Didn’t one of your nightmares include me on a date with Mako instead of _you_?” Asami said with a bit of a humoring smile, fully aware of what a tease she was being, not that her wife was surprised.

“Yes, but that was back when I was jealous of you. Now, I can’t picture my life without you…” She noted, smiling at the girl who was raised in an upper class upstyle compared to her own low class one. “You and-”

But before Korra finished what she was going to say, Asami noticed the candlelight behind the Avatar being blown out along with another one.

“Damn wind…” Korra noted as she turned around to look into the darkness as Asami had to bring something up.

“Korra, there’s no windows nearby, let alone any open ones.”

Just as the Avatar of the universe remembered that, both women saw a shape form up from the shadows made from the lack of light.

“What the?” Korra began only to see the shape slowly come up closer to them as it spoke in a very familiar voice with two glowing red eyes.

“So, this universe is _VERY_ new to me, never seen any like this.”

Both wives looked at each other, realizing it spoke with Korra’s voice before Asami turned to look at the shape. “This universe?”

“Correct, where each has their own little quirk…” Dark Korra’s voice rang out before shadow tentacles smashed against the wall, causing some hung pictures to fall onto the ground and break loudly as the form of shadows began to sink into the sources, allowing herself to be shown.

“I-Is that me?” The other Korra said in a surprised, but still focused tone as she got in a fighter’s pose as her evil self nodded.

“Correct me.”

“Asami, GO-”

“OH, please don’t go Asami, I love that dress of yours…” Dark Korra interrupted, holding up her hand as the shadow claw formed over it as she gave that evil smile, her eyes glowing even more redder at a thought. “Goes with-”

“Mommy?”

A fourth voice was heard, getting the three’s attention as the door Asami just closed was open once more, the three seeing a small tanned skin girl with raven haired poking her head out, slowly coming out in her pajamas as her wide jade colored eyes looked at the sight.

Dark Korra looked at the child, her demeanor no longer one of sadistic playfulness, but of legitimate surprise, her eyes turning back to their natural cyan as she saw this Asami quickly grab the girl tightly and picked her up.

“M-Mo- _Mommy?_ ” The shadowbender repeated what the girl said.

“Asami, get Yasuko away from here!” The other Korra ordered her wife to do as the little girl looked at Dark Korra’s face, noticing how frozen in petified shock she looked.

“Is that your sister, Mama?” The girl named Yasuko asked her water tribe mother. “She looks so sad, why are you crying?” She innocently asked the unknown intruder.

Hearing that, Dark Korra realized the child was right, _she was crying_ , touching the tears that she didn’t even know was forming with her fingers before lifting her head back at the three, shaking her head.

“I-I’m… _I’m sorry._ ” With that, Dark Korra suddenly sank into her shadow, vanishing from the three’s sight.

“WOAH!” Yasuko said in amazement, looking at Korra. “Can you do that, mama?”

“I… I’m not sure sweetie.” Korra answered before the three noticed another purple light from a nearby room and some grunts. “Oh, WHAT NOW!” She said as she rushed into the room, only to be surprised at what she saw as were her wife and daughter.

It was a large group of people in a pile, now groaning in pain in the middle of their family room as they tried to get off each other.

But what caught the eyes of the couple and their daughter was that they looked like people they knew, with one who looked like a differently dressed Korra and two other Asami’s

And it didn’t take long for the crew to notice who was looking up at them, Thuy giving a pained wave.

“Ah, ‘ello! We’re new here…”

* * *

On the roof of the large mansion, Dark Korra suddenly burst out of the shadow cast by a chimney, breathing hard as her eyes were still widened at what she just witnessed.

“ _What happened there? Why didn’t you take that Korra’s energy?!_ ” Sha-Garou asked, rather annoyed at this turn of events.

But all the shadowbender could do was keep breathing loudly, not enough to alert anyone, but enough for Sha-Garou to notice as more tears fell from her eyeducts.

“ _She was right there for the taking, it’s not like her wife could do anything to stop you! Same with the-_ ” The spirit kept going until it stopped, realizing that his host was remembering something, sensing what _it_ was.

At that moment, Sha-Garou realized why Dark Korra did what she did, giving a sigh. “ _Right… I get it… It’s okay, sparing one Avatar wouldn’t hurt our goal in the long run…_ ”

Then both the shadowbender and the spirit noticed a familiar purple light shining.

“Shit, they’re here.” She whispered as the spirit quickly thought to itself.

“ _It’s fine, just go to the next dimension, I think they’re gonna be here for a while..._ ” Was all Sha-Garou said before Dark Korra nodded, clenching her hand with the crystal before vanishing from the universe in the purple light, the only evidence of her being up there were the tears that landed on the shingles.

* * *

“My, that’s quite the story…” This universe’s version of Asami said as she and her Korra had just listened to what the regular Korra, Sami and others explained to them about the different universes, Sha-Garou, Khu-Shi and shadowbending.

“It does sound like what happened with Hattori Hanzo months ago, only it was another doppelganger of myself.” The cap wearing Korra said, not knowing about it, yet getting their guests attention.

“Wait, she was _here?_ Where she’d go?!” Sami asked, eyes widened at the possibility of missing her to this world’s Avatar who shook her head.

“I don’t know, one moment she was ready to harm us, then the next thing we knew, she vanished into the shadows, saying she was sorry.” 

Lin looked at Sami as she sat next to both Kya and One-Armed Kya while they entertained Yasuko with their waterbending. “Do you sense her around?”

The shadowbender shook her head, not getting anything, confused as to why the woman she lost to Sha-Garou would leave this Korra be until something, or rather someone caught her attention.

“Well, that’s good news then. That means we have a better chance of fighting back.” Mako noted, looking outside at the different Republic City, the sight of which was a big surprise to the ten as they realized where they were.

Korra looked at her other self, giving a bit of a smile. “We’ve been going through different universes, getting as much help as we could to fight against Dark Us and Sha-Garou. We’ve managed to save one Avatar and she’s willing to fight. Will you help us?”

“Well…” The other Korra began, feeling a bit uneasy, she not only had a wife, but also a daughter to care for, it was crazy to think not only was there other universes, but also other forms of herself, those she knew, those she cared for. She even felt a bead of sweat going down her forehead…

Until she felt the hand of her wife on her own, looking at the Asami she married, giving a silent nod which she gave a smile, giving one back and looking at Korra.

“Yes, we can inform the others, may take some convincing, especially with Inspector Beifong, but we’ll fight alongside you. For our daughter.”

That put a smile on the Avatar’s lips before something dropped onto her mind as did Asami. “Wait, daughter?”

“OH, right, yes.” The fancily dressed Asami said, going over to where Yasuko was patting at One-Arm Kya's water hand and took the child in her arms, who then looked at the other universe versions of her mothers. “Me and Korra, we decided to adopt and raise this little ragamuffin as our own when she was only a newborn, I’m her mommy and Korra is her mama.”

Both Korra and Asami were amazed to see the child of three years, who was just as curious before poking at Korra’s nose, laughing at the sight of her reacting. “Hi!”

“Hi…” Korra said, smiling as she took the girl’s small hand in her own, shaking it. “What’s your name?”

“Yasuko.”

That made Asami pleasantly surprised, looking at the girl’s adoptive parents, giving a small smile. “ _Yasuko_ , you named her after…?”

“Asami’s mother, yes.” The Korra of this universe nodded, kissing her daughter’s forehead. “It was actually my idea to name her after-”

“Hey, Sami, you okay?” Hattori asked, noticing the shadowbender had been in complete silence, having been staring at the little girl the entire time, everyone’s attention turning to her as she just now noticed before standing up, realizing how wet her eyes were getting.

“I-I-I need to b-be alone...”

With that, Sami rushed out of the room and over into the nearby bathroom, closing the door behind her hard and locking it’s locks before sliding down against it, holding her head before breaking out in tears, kicking at the ground with her foot as the shadows around her vibrated with each kick, her cries growing louder.

“Now she’s sad too...?” Yasuko asked, hearing the second lady who looked like her mother crying before looking at her two mothers. “Is she as sad as the other lady?”

Both Korra and Asami looked where Sami ran off as the others did too, wondering what that was about, that is until a look of realization came from the least likely person.

“Oh MY RAAVA…” Bolin began as he looked all around, realizing the clues were right there, especially with what Husky Korra tried to tell them.

“... I know _what_ Guan did to Sami.”

* * *

Sami had been sitting on the bathroom floor for five minutes straight, still crying as she let go of her head, her hands lowering down to her waist until a knock was made on the door.

“Leave me alone!” The shadowbender cried out, not wanting to be bothered.

“Sami… _please_ come out.” She heard Korra’s voice say on the other side, not sure if it was the Prime or the one who was a mother in this universe talking, she didn’t care at this point.

Sami didn’t hear a response, but she didn’t hear the footsteps leaving either. “Please, just-”

“We know what Guan did to you.” She heard Asami’s voice cut through the air like a knife through hot butter. “We know why your Korra gave into Sha-Garou…”

The shadowbender’s eyes tried to close as tightly as they could at the memory, trying to block it, but now, it was practically beating on the other side of the door.

Watching all of this before hearing the door begin to unlock, Hattori looked over at the other Korra and Asami who had been standing there with the ones he knew. “Hey, ah, maybe you two should put the kid to rest, past her bedtime.”

The couple, realizing that the man with the mismatched eyes was suggesting that Yasuko shouldn’t be around for this, nodded.

“Come on sweetie, let’s get back to bed…” The Korra of this universe agreed as she and her wife took the child into her room, just in time for Sami to finally come out of the bathroom, her eyeliner completely ruined due to her constant crying, trying to wipe it off.

“Alright… here’s what happened…” She said, finally ready to talk as she walked into the hall and back into the family room, sitting on a big chair.

The shadowbender taking a deep breath, sensing that Khu-Shui was asking if she was ready to tell them, and she was.

“A month had passed since Korra forced Sha-Garou into her, locking him away for good, so we thought.” She began, remembering how even with the shadow spirit in her, it never seemed to be able to take control.

“He tried giving her different offers to let her use his power, but Korra didn’t budge, she was internally always fighting against him, not giving him the time of day.” Sami explained, looking at the others.

“Yet she was the same Korra I knew and loved, my lover, my wife. And as it turns out…” She noted before remembering the idea Korra gave her. “She wanted to be _the mother of our own child._ ”

The crew expected to be surprised to know that Korra wanted to be a mother, but seeing the version of her from this universe being such a good mama to Yasuko, they already knew it was the case.

“Naturally, I was surprised to hear that, but turns out I wanted to be one too.” Sami admitted. “We considered the idea of adoption, but… well, the both of us decided to go down a different idea.” She then looked up at both Mako and Thuy, pointing at them.

“We both asked Mako, with the permission of Thuy of course, if he’d help us with conceiving a child.”

“WHAT?!” Both Mako and Thuy said at the same time when hearing this, which Sami had to give a small chuckle at.

“Admittingly, that was the same exact reaction you both gave in my universe. But after enough talking, you and Mako were okay with it as we trusted you.”

Seeing the couple give a collective sigh, Sami continued. “So with that set, along with deciding that I’d be the one to carry the child, Mako…" She tried to think of how to say this next part. "... well, made his donation as scientists put to use this brand new procedure referred to as “Artificial Insemination” on me, long story on how that works.” The shadowbender explained before forming with her bending an odd shape in her hand.

A closer look at it showed everyone it was a shadow in the shape of a woman with a bump on her belly. “And then, a couple weeks later, I was pregnant.” Sami said, putting on a smile as she remembered when both Korra and her got the news. “Me and Korra were gonna be parents…”

Then the woman felt the sadness come back once more as the shape of the woman sank back into the shadows.. “But then, five months later… Guan broke free of his prison…”

Sami turned her head, closing her eyes tightly. “He and some followers of his commited an act of terrorism in Zaofu, which just so happened to be when me and Korra were in the area to visit Suyin and her family.”

* * *

_“THE EARTH EMPIRE WILL RISE ONCE MORE OR WE’LL DIE TRYING!” The former commander yelled out as a large building in the middle of the city went up in flames, a few of his followers executing various civilians, no longer operating under how they used to work._

_“GUAN! STOP THIS NOW!” Korra yelled out, having seen all the bodies around her, Suyin and Kuvira, trying once more to stop the madman._

_“Don’t get any closer Avatar Korra, any of you…” The man sneered before snapping his fingers, to which one of his men came out into the street, dragging a metal cuffed Asami with him, her baby bump noticeable. “Wouldn’t want anything to happen to your wife, would you?”_

_“No…” The Avatar said in a small voice as her wife was taken by Guan, who metalbended a sharp piece of metal from nearby and held it to her throat._

_“Back down Avatar and surrender, if you do, I assure you I’ll let her go unharmed!”_

_“Guan, this is insane, even for you!” Kuvira yelled out, realizing how far gone her former confidant had gone._

_“One man's insanity is another’s sanity.” The Earth Empire zealot noted, not listening before looking back at Korra. “So…”_

_“Alright! ALRIGHT!” The Avatar yelled out, hands up, trying not to bring any harm to her wife. “I’ll… I’ll… I’m sorry Asami…”_

_“It’s okay Korra…” The pregnant woman grunted, understanding why her wife was giving up._

_“KORRA!” Suyin yelled out to which the Avatar looked at her._

_“We have no choice!” She yelled back, ignoring Sha-Garou’s own voice telling her to use shadowbending to save her. “None!”_

_“Good to see you acting sensibly, Avatar Korra…” Guan said, beginning to lower the sharp metal from Asami’s neck. “Very well, like I promised, you can-”_

_But interrupting what the madman was saying was another explosion that rang out closer to them from another building._

_And it just so happened that Guan and Asami were the closest to it, Guan instinctively rushing away from the blast…_

_… in the process, he pushed Asami out of his way, leaving her to fall stomach first into a large piece of debris._

* * *

Everyone looked horrified at Sami, whose tears came back as she felt her stomach, remembering how painful the fall was.

“I… Ah…” Korra tried to let out as Sami just looked at her and Asami, along with the two from this universe who had just walked in at this moment, shaking her head at them with the saddest, most broken look on her face.

* * *

_“ASAMI!” Korra cried out, sprinting as fast as she humanly could to her wife, who was crying out in pain, getting rid of the metal cuffs as she saw Asami hold her stomach, not even taking notice of Suyin and Kuvira capturing the escaping Guan and his soldiers._

_Nor even listening to them calling out to her, all Korra was focused on was Asami and the unborn child._

_“Asami, it’s okay, it’s okay sweetie, everything will be fine..." She tried to assure her wife before looking around, fear in her eyes. "WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP MY WIFE!?!?”_

_The next thing Korra knew, she was sitting outside Asami’s room in the hospital, awaiting any form of news, just sitting there, not paying attention to anything but her wife, watching the doctors of Zaofu around her talk to Suyin about what happened._

_Kuvira sat at Korra’s side, holding her hand, trying to get her through this, but she couldn’t know the feeling the Avatar was feeling at the moment, no one could._

_Then the both of them saw Suyin nod at something the doctor told her, it didn’t look like much, but that was only because Suyin was trying her hardest not to break in tears as she exited the room and finally spoke to them._

_“Asami will be alright, she just needs some rest.”_

_“And the baby?” Kuvira asked, knowing how serious the fall was…_

_… only for Suyin to finally tear up, silently shaking her head as she walked away._

_Kuvira watched her adoptive mother in disbelief, then at Asami who just laid in bed, looking to be awake, but not reacting, as if the news just turned her to an unmoving, unblinking stone._

_“Kuvira….” Korra’s voice said in a broken tone, getting the attention of her ally as the words crept out of her mouth. “... can you please leave me alone for a few minutes?”_

_The metalbender knew exactly what was up from both the tone of voice and how shaking Korra’s eyes were, nodding before choosing to follow Suyin, leaving Korra alone in the hallway._

_Once she was indeed alone, the Avatar dropped from her seat to her knees, her hands trembling like never before as tears began to fall from her eyes, thoughts of her and Asami talking over what plans they had for the baby’s room, having found out it was going to be a girl._

_She then remembered Asami trying to think of names for the child before one came to Korra’s mind, one that she knew her wife would love, considering the significance of it._

_Yasuko._

_That was the breaking point as with that single thought of the child that would never be, Korra grasped her hair, closed her eyes as tightly as she could and let out a loud scream in anguish, the loudest she ever yelled in her life._

_“NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”_

_Unknowing, or rather unintended, was that due to her earthbending abilities as the Avatar, she had caused almost every single piece of glass, due to being made of sand in some way, in the ENTIRE HOSPITAL to break._

_All except the windows and anything made of glass in Asami’s room._

* * *

“So Bolin was right, Guan caused you to suffer a miscarriage?” Opal asked as she held Bolin’s hand, still in disbelief at what happened in the universe as Sami nodded.

“Yes, all because he was a coward who thought he could escape with the help of an unintended explosion.”

“Did he know what he did?” Hattori asked, the idea of what he did sickening him.

“Not at first, but even worse…” Sami began before remembering what the Suyin and Kuvira she knew told her. “When he did find out… he didn’t care. The bastard didn’t even care, just said “Doesn’t matter, simple causality of war, alive or not.”

She felt the rage she unleashed on Dark Korra back in the animal universe slowly begin rising up again at repeating his vile words, but kept it in.

“That’s when Sha-Garou _knew he had an opening…_ ”

* * *

_Since that moment a week before, all Korra could do was sit next to a sleeping Asami, having not left her side for a week since then except to use the bathroom or to wash herself. She barely ate, drank or slept, just stared at her beautiful wife…_

_Knowing that they lost the chance to be parents…_

_“I’m so sorry…”_

_Korra heard the shadow spirit’s voice ring out in her head. Ever since what happened, it kept out of her business, leaving her be._

_She didn’t respond to it, not due to her blocking him out, but only because she was too focused on her wife to respond.._

_“I know you more than likely don’t want me talking at the moment, I get it, but… I truly am sorry for you and your wife's loss…”_

_The Avatar just noticed the sense of… regret in its voice?_

_“I know I kept begging you to put me to use, but… even I didn’t see the events that transpired happening…”_

_Korra wanted to tell the spirit to fuck off, but… it was rather comforting to hear it give some form of kindness for the first time since she forced herself to be it’s host._

_“You and I both know what he’s done… what’s he’s done in the past, Guan… His soul was tainted without a shadow of a doubt, please excuse the poor pun, but… you already know what he did to your friends, to your wife a year ago. But what Guan just did to Asami, what he just did to you, killing your unborn child, not even looking back without one single shred of regret.”_

_Korra then saw the environment around her and Asami be engulfed in shadows, looking all over before she saw those six red eyes…_

_… yet they weren’t filled with evil or sadistic intent…_

_… they looked sad for her._

_“This will be the last time I’ll give you an offer…”_

_Korra watched those six eyes move around in the shadows, moving towards Asami’s sleeping body, looking down at her._

_“Use my power, become a shadowbender…”_

_Then the six red eyes looked at Korra, swirling around her._

_“With that, you can take revenge, get back at Guan for every single horrible thing he’s done, to the Earth Kingdom, to Gaoling, to Zaofu, to Mako, Bolin, Wu…. to Asami… to Yasuko.”_

_Korra then slowly lifted her head, thinking it all over in her mind._

_“BUT… if you choose not to accept my offer, okay, I get it. Let Guan finally stay locked up for good, alive, that’s fine with me. You can energybend me out of your body and I’ll go my own way, leaving you, Asami and your friends alone, maybe go back into the spirit world…”_

_Then Korra saw the spirit’s eyes look right into her’s._

_“I can’t force you to make this choice, it’s all yours to make… I'll give you some time to think it over.”_

_With a blink of her eyes, Korra saw she was back in the hospital, still in Asami’s room, seeing her wife resting as some builders tried to put in new glass windows in the hallway to replace the ones she broke._

_She remembered verbatim the spirit’s offer. While most times, it was pleading and begging Korra to use its power, possibly giving into what Sha-Garou wanted, this time…_

_It was like the damn spirit wanted to do something good for once in it’s eternal life._

_But that would mean…_

_The vision of her killing Guan with her bare hands replayed in her mind as she closed her eyes, remembering what she told Asami, that she wanted to personally kill him for what he had done to her, the brothers, Wu and those people of Gaoling with that damn brainwashing._

_Korra remembered Asami telling her that she was better than that, that it’s okay for good people to have bad feelings, it doesn’t mean they’re bad people._

_She remembered those words calming her, but then…_

_The images of Guan pushing Asami away, her pregnant stomach inching ever so closer to that piece of metal debris, then getting the news of their loss, of Suyin and Kuvira informing her that he hadn’t looked to give any regrets about his actions…_

_The idea of this… bastard not caring that he stole an innocent life, unborn or not…_

_It enraged Korra, the images kept being mixed with her vision of killing Guan, her memories of her and Asami planning things out for their baby girl…_

_It all kept repeating in her mind rapidly, like a projector showing off a mover in her mind that wouldn’t shut off as a high pitch sound rang out loudly…_

_Before changing into that of the cry of a newborn baby._

_Her eyes jutted open as she began breathing hard…_

_It was then the Avatar made up her mind._

_Standing up from her seat, she slowly approached her sleeping wife, knowing the choice she was about to make, gliding her hand through Asami’s raven colored hair._

_“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.” Korra said to her wife before kissing her on the lips. “I love you…”_

_With that, Korra began walking out of the room, stopping as she opened the door into the hallway as she turned back to look at her wife._

_“I accept.”_

_With that, she turned away, closing the door behind her as she left._

* * *

Korra sat there stone silent as Sami had stopped telling the story, seeing the look on the Avatar’s face as did Asami, who held her around the waist.

“So _that’s_ what happened…” Was all Korra could muster saying before breaking out in tears herself, crying at the story. Even if it wasn’t her and Asami who lost the child, she still felt her other self’s pain, becoming so vulnerable. Enough to finally give into revenge, to fall under Sha-Garou’s influence.

She now knew why Hattori Hanzo gave in, why Lin Hanzo gave in. She knew One-Arm Kya was a separate case, but she still lost a daughter, so she knew her pain too…

It was so easy to give into revenge, rage, the want to see those who took away everything of yours or your loved ones pay with their lives.

_She got it…_

Now she was afraid even more that it was possible for her to give in.

“And Guan?” One Armed Kya asked, having a feeling along with everyone else how this turned out, but they needed to hear it from Sami.

The shadowbender sighed. “I was still in the hospital when it happened, got second hand knowledge from the only witnesses still alive on the scene. It wasn’t until Khu-Shui showed me when I became a shadowbender did I see it all for myself.…”

* * *

_“You’re a sick man Guan…” Kuvira said as she walked around the man cuffed to his seat with platinum in the interrogation room in the jail in Zaofu, a man who hadn’t even emoted the entire time. “First you led an attack on Zaofu with all your zealots, holding onto an idea that clearly failed…”_

_Then the former leader of the Earth Empire looked into his eyes. “Then you decide to have your men to actually execute innocent civilians? Heck, you had buildings blown up, all in some sick attempt to take over!”_

_Then Kuvira shook her head, unable to look at the man for what she had next to say. “And yet, that’s still not as sickening as you having the Avatar’s pregnant wife kidnapped just to have her surrender to you-”_

_“Whom I had intended to let go without any harm if she agreed-” Guan finally said, looking up with a simple glare at Kuvira who shot a more furious looking one back at him._

_“BEFORE YOU THREW HER ONTO RUBBLE, STOMACH FIRST, JUST TO AVOID AN EXPLOSION YOUR BOYS ACCIDENTLY CAUSED…”_

_She then looked at the two way mirror, knowing Suyin and two armed guards were watching the scene just in case Guan tried anything, none of whom knew who was making her way there. “By the way, the child she was carrying died in the womb. Mrs. Sato was five months pregnant when you caused her to have a miscarriage.”_

_“Doesn’t matter.” Kuvira heard Guan mutter, suddenly turning around to see him give that cold look on his face. “Simple causality of war, alive or not.”_

_That infuriated Kuvira, who felt herself about to strike the former commander down._

_“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!” She yelled out at hearing such a disgusting remark._

_Just then, a loud slam was heard from the room next door as it got both bender's attention._

_Suyin and the guards saw walking over the broken metal door knocked off its hinges was Avatar Korra, a look of pure fury and rage seen in her cyan eyes alone._

_“Let me in, Su!”_

_“Korra, Kuvira is currently-”_

_“I SAID LET ME IN!”_

_“I'm sorry Avatar Korra, you can’t-” One guard tried talking to her, only for the Avatar to open her hand out towards the metal door behind him and the other guard leading into the interrogation room and moving her arm, forcing the door to slam into their backs, knocking them down out of the way as Suyin watched in shock._

_“Korra, please, calm down!”_

_Suddenly Korra waved her hand towards her, resulting in water being bended out from a waterskin to around the metalbender’s hands before they froze against the wall, leaving the leader of the Metal Clan trapped there to witness what was next._

_The Avatar was breathing hard, turning her neck without moving the rest of her body to look right at the man who took her and Asami’s child away._

_“Ah, Avatar Korra, pleasure to see you.” Guan said, rather amused to see her burst in._

_“Guan, shut up…” Kuvira muttered, trying to get him to quit provoking Korra as she entered the room._

_“Kuvira, leave, NOW.” Korra demanded of her ally who shook her head, knowing very well what she had planned._

_“I know what you’re thinking Korra, but this is not the answer.” Kuvira said, holding her hands up, ready to try holding her back if she had to as Korra had to close her eyes and chuckle at the irony on display._

_“Oh, funny, I distinctly remember you being told the same thing by Su a year ago.”_

_“Listen to me, killing Guan won’t bring back your-”_

_Without warning, out from Korra’s own shadow, a hand made of it thrust towards and grasped tightly around Kuvira’s throat as Guan jumped in his seat in shock, the Avatar’s hand out towards her before pulling the metalbender towards her, turning her head in the direction of a surprised Kuvira's face, opening her eyes to show they were no longer the Cyan blue, but glowing blood red as she snarled at her now mortified ally._

_“Stay. The FUCK. OUT OF THIS!!”_

_With that, Korra waved the Shadow Hand towards the two way mirror, releasing the grip on Kuvira, who was flung through the glass, shattering it as she landed hard onto the floor as Suyin watched in horror at what Korra had done._

_With that, Korra stomped on the floor, forcing a shadow shield to cover up the open doorway while also holding her hand towards the ice around Suyin’s hands, turning it back into water, freeing her as she and a struggling Kuvira watched the water turn back into ice, blocking a way in through the two way mirror frame..._

_... while also giving both metalbender’s a clear view of what Korra had planned as she slowly approached the now frightened Guan, who wasn’t able to move away or use his metalbending due to what kind of metal the cuffs were made of._

_“Do you know what I’m feeling, Guan?” The now Shadowbending Avatar asked, tears coming down her eyes, down her cheeks._

_He shook his head “Wha-UURRRAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!_

_He barely got a word out before suddenly screaming in pain as Korra quickly formed up a shadow claw over her hand to stab into his collarbone, not going in too deep to cause major damage, but enough to make it really hurt as she tugged on it. “AAAHHH!!! AAHH!!”_

_“KORRA! NO!!” Suyin yelled out from the other side, but the Avatar wasn’t listening, she was focused on one thing._

_“I asked you if you know the feeling, the kind that I’m still experiencing because of you…” She asked in a hushed voice, enjoying the sounds of pain coming from the zealot’s mouth before taking the shadow claw out and sliding a single clawed finger against his forehead, causing more sounds of pain to erupt from him from the cutting motion._

_"NNAAHHH!!!"_

_“STOP!” Kuvira cried out as she and Suyin tried to break through, with the shadow shield countering every attempt they made as Korra began to repeatingly slash the man’s chest with the claw, staining his green uniform red as his screams echoed out for what seemed like minutes._

_“W-what kind o-o-of FEELING!?!” Guan finally whined out as the pain burned throughout his body as he shook in pain, a puddle of blood forming under his chair, along with a trail of urine down his leg._

_Korra had to give a wicked smile at hearing him ask this before getting rid of the shadow claw and lightly moving her hands over his chest, so as to not touch the bloody wounds as she looked into his black eyes with her glowing red ones._

_“To know what it’s like to have your heart ripped out of you.”_

_Before Guan could process what she just said, Korra suddenly forced her fingers into the wounds on the man’s chest, making him scream loudly as she dug them in more, getting a good grip in before pulling the chest apart by the ribcage, blood squirting up onto her grinning face as he cried out._   
  
_"FFAAHHH!!! AAGGGHHH!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!"_

_Even worse for the man was that, even with his chest the way it was, Guan was still alive, enough to see that his still beating heart was exposed as he looked down in shock, watching it accelerate rapidly._

_Suyin and Kuvira kept trying to break through, knowing that even at this point, it was pointless to stop Korra, they still had to try._

_“This is what it feels like.”_

_Those were the final words Guan heard this new shadowbender Korra say to him before she thrusted her bare hand into where his heart laid pumping, gripping it with all her might as she slowly pulled it out, letting him give one final loud scream of bloody pain as his body shook in place._

_"EEEEEGGGAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"_

_Finally, Korra managed to rip out the vital organ completely, the former commander of the Earth Empire finally dead by her hands._

_Both Suyin and Kuvira watched the display of violence finally finish, having witnessed the one and only Avatar not just murder the man who injured her wife and killed her unborn child, but tortured him before allowing him to die painfully, both seeing her glowing red eyes were the same color as the blood on her face._

_Then the ice turned back into water and the shadow shield vanished with both metalbenders watching Korra silently walk out of the room, throwing the heart on the ground, forever a changed woman as her eyes turned back to normal_

_One who was being given some new inspiration from the shadow spirit in her._

\------------------

“.... dear Raava...” Was all Kya could say after hearing all of that, that was all any of the crew could think having heard what Dark Korra did to Guan, trying to process it.

“Jings, I sensed the guy was a real piece of cunt from what you all said about him. ” Thuy began, trying to process this, shaking her head. “But… _WOW._ ”

“From what my Su told me after the Gaoling fiasco.” Hattori too began, looking at a mortified One-Arm Kya and having to give his friend a hug, feeling the same as her. “Can say he’s certainly in the 'Top 3 Worst Pieces of Shit I’ve Never Met', but that’s just overkill.”

“So that was the start of Dark Korra?” Asami asked her other self, who nodded, finally finished with the story.

“Yep, from there on, you already know what she did afterwards.” The shadowbender said, shaking her head as she knew Sha-Garou showed all of them, aside from Hattori and One-Arm Kya, the sad fates of their counterparts before seeing Korra still crying at this. “Korra…”

“I’m still listening, don’t worry.” The Avatar responded with, she couldn’t come up with words at how far gone this other form of her just went, how far she could possibly fall herself.

“Hey, HEY!” Sami said, getting off the chair she was on and walking over to her, taking her by the wrists, looking into her eyes. “Listen here, just because one bad thing happened to my Korra, making her into what she is now, DOESN’T MEAN it has to happen _to you!_ ”

She felt something… seeming to rise up in her, something the shadowbender wasn’t quite sure what it was, but she could hear Khu-Shui approving of it. “Even though, technically speaking, yes, you two are the same person, YOU’RE NOT HER, KORRA.”

Korra then saw a familiar shine in Sami’s eyes, it was like she was talking to her Asami.

“She’s the one who decided to put that shadow spirit asshole in herself, you never had to deal with that! Guan escaped in our universe, forcing things to happen as they did. Far as I know, he hasn’t escaped yet in your universe, so chances are things won’t happen there! YOU ARE _YOU_ , YOU ARE NOT HER KORRA. YOU’RE NOT THE SHADOWBENDING AVATAR, NOT DARK KORRA, YOU ARE AVATAR KORRA! THE PRIME!”

“The… prime?” Korra repeated, having been meaning to ask about being called that when she first met Dark Korra.

“Like I said, when you were energybending Sha-Garou out of Hattori, that was the major starting point of all of this, when our universes split apart.” Sami explained. “In my universe, he lived. But in yours, you and your friends destroyed him. Compared to all the other universes where the same event played out, yours was the only one that split into another. Because of this, your universe, heck, YOU are now the prime in all of this. And you’ll lead all those who lost friends, family and loved ones, against him and Dark Korra.”

Sami gave a thought to herself, remembering what the Korra and Asami of this universe, along with what their daughter said earlier, looking back at the Korra she’s ready to fight by.

“From what the versions of us here said, Dark Korra could have just attacked them without any issues, but she didn’t, SHE FLED.” She explained, thinking that learning about Yasuko was what caused her to do so. “So possibly the old Korra of mine still remains deep in her, maybe not. But what I do know is, she and Sha-Garou need to be stopped and I can’t do it without you. Asami can’t do it without you.”

The shadowbender had Korra look at all of their allies in the room willing to stand by her side. “Mako, Bolin, Lin, Kya, Thuy, One Arm Kya, Hattori, ALL THE OTHERS WHO AGREED TO FIGHT… we can’t do it _without you._ ” She finished, her eyes beaming with the first sign of real hope since that day in Zaofu.

It was quite the speech, something that Korra did not see coming, but she looked at all her allies, her friends, all those who stuck by her since the beginning, then she saw Asami look at her, a sure look on her face as she nodded.

“Spirits…” Korra began saying, sounding a bit unsure…

… until she put on that goofy smile of hers. “Even in other universes, you know how to perk me up Asami.” She said to her Asami before turning to Sami, who knew she got through to her.

“We’re going to need more help, but we’re doing this, we will stop Dark Us and finally end Sha-Garou once and for all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... everything was... mainly character feels, what with Asami getting a moment with Still Alive Hiroshi (Anyone got a nickname for that universe). Then once Dark Korra, and by extension the crew, arrived in the Cobblestone-Verse (Think if LOK was set in Victorian London) and met up with Cobblestone-Verse Korra, Asami AND their adopted daughter... it all came out.
> 
> Now, obviously something like miscarriage is a rough topic, not as rough as say, rape, but it does come with it's own hurdles to deal with, something which me and Coniine wanted to make sure we approached as respectfully as we could. Plus, there had to be something that Guan did that would force Dark Korra to... well, give into Sha-Garou in the past to become Dark Korra. And to be blunt, not a whole lot of options we realized would push the Avatar over the edge. And we didn't wanna have Sami be... well, assaulted by Guan in THAT way, cause... well, Guan's evil, but not "FUCKING EVIL".
> 
> So yes, Dark Korra gave into Sha-Garou because Guan caused Sami to have a miscarriage (Among other things, but to her, most certainly that one). Bet you dollars to donuts Nickelodeon wouldn't allow that... then again, they did allow P'Li blowing her own head away and the Earth Queen getting choked out, so... :Shrugs: Also, the bit of Dark Korra messing with Guan's collarbone and ripping out his heart is actually references to "Rambo: Last Blood", heck, even her last words to him (And the name of the chapter) was lifted directly from the film.
> 
> ANYWAY, me and Coniine assure you all, next chapter will be out on Sunday, just wanted to get this big one out, and it'll be much lighter by comparison. Some more character stuff and serious moments, yes, but more light hearted too, trust us! Be sure to give kudos and comment!


	9. Chapter Eight- A Big Question And Regrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No trigger warnings this episode as it's a nice breather after last chapter. So, enjoy, review and give kudos!

The crew had to say goodbye to this universe's Asami and Korra. They were still in shock over everything that happened, and they had another talk about whether they could count on them in the final fight against Sha-Garou. It was a difficult decision for the couple, no doubt, but as they talked, Sami didn't feel like she had the energy anymore to convince anyone, so she hung around the edge of the group, leaning against the doorframe to their living room. 

She heard tiny footsteps in the corridor and turned to see Yasuko walking clumsily, rubbing her eye with her hand sleepily. The talking must have woken her back up. 

The child looked up at Sami, her eyes curious, though tired. She looked like she was trying to understand who she was seeing. 

"Mommy?" she said, confusedly. She was distraught from what happened tonight, and she held her hands up to be picked up. 

Sami stared down at her for a few moments. The initial shock of seeing the daughter of her other self had dwindled, but she still didn't know how to feel about this. The child clenched and unclenched her fists, her expression growing increasingly more troubled as who she thought was her parent seemed to be ignoring her.

The engineer looked back at the crew. They were still busy talking and they hadn't noticed Yasuko wandering up to the door. She let out a sigh, turning back to the child and before she started crying, she knelt down, shushing her. 

Yasuko smiled and walked closer, throwing her arms around Sami. She froze, this simple act throwing her off guard. 

As she pulled away, the crystal on Sami's bracelet caught her eye and she took hold of it, bringing her hand closer so she could look. The expression of utter fascination on the child's face was so adorable that it made the engineer smile. 

"It's an Uchū crystal," she whispered to her. 

"Achoo," Yasuko tried saying.

Sami chuckled. For just a moment, her heart filled with joy, seeing the child happy in her presence. 

Something about the crystal must have looked appetizing to Yasuko and she tried to grab it and put it in her mouth before Sami pulled her hand away. 

"Not for eating, not for eating." she said. Its purple color might have made it look like rock candy. 

The child pouted and she let out a sob. 

"Hey, no it's ok." Sami put her arm around her. "It's ok." She pulled her into another hug, shushing her gently as she calmed down against her chest.

A tear rolled down the engineer's face. While Yasuko might have confused her for her mother, she knew she wasn't _her_ daughter.

"Alright, then we'll count you in." She heard Korra from across the room. Their conversation must have been coming to an end. 

She pulled away from Yasuko and stood up. "Go back to bed," she whispered. The child looked up at her, her eyes still searching her face like something was different but she couldn't tell what. "Back to bed, okay sweetie?" Sami repeated, and Yasuko did as she was told, giving her a silent wave as she walked back down the hall. 

"You ready, Sami?" the Avatar asked her. 

She turned round to face them, making sure her tears were wiped, and nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

As they exited the purple energy light, they caught the attention of a pair of guards, but before they could be questioned, smoke started to rise on the horizon. 

"The palace!" Korra yelled. "She's here already!" 

They rushed through the streets, followed by the fire nation guards roaming the town. People ran to get to safety as the smoke spread, and an explosion burst through the walls of the palace, which had clued in the crew of where they had landed. From it, two figures emerged, fighting each other. 

One was shrouded in shadows, and the other surrounded by swirling flames. The two Avatars were in the midst of battle as the crew jumped to this version of Korra's help. 

The Dark Avatar sprung shadows up all around the palace courtyard. She was panting, but this world's Korra was too. She seemed at the end of her powers, as though her and the corrupted version of herself had already been fighting a while.

Dark Korra hurled a storm of sharp shadow spears, and the Avatar's eyes widened, before a wall of fire dispersed them all.

The firebending master known as Zuko pounced out from the hole in the palace walls, and dropped to the ground, his fists flaming. Behind him, Izumi followed her father, assuming her fighting stance and readying her firebolts.

"Protect the Firelord, the Princess and the Avatar!" One of the guards yelled, and the soldiers dashed into the courtyard, getting into position against the intruder. 

Dark Korra snarled, contorting the shadows towards them. The inexperienced town guards struggled against the strange powers, but their numbers were enough to throw the Dark Avatar's attention for a moment. 

Sami used the opportunity to grasp at her with a shadow hand, managing to grab her hand. 

" _You_ again?!" Dark Korra growled, trying to pry her hand free. 

Izumi sent forward a fireball in her direction, and she had to use her free hand to block it with a shadow, separating the flames into small flying embers that rained down around her. 

Bolin kicked the ground hard, rising up a boulder and heating it up before sending it towards the Dark Avatar from the opposite direction, and she saw it at the last moment, just in time to throw herself backwards out of the way. 

Opal followed up, airbending her off balance so she struggled to stay on her feet, arm still held tight in the shadows grip until she slashed at the tentacle with a blade of air she formed in her other hand.

Dark Korra looked around her. She was surrounded and greatly outnumbered. The fire nation was more ruthless than she had expected.

The Dark Avatar wasn't going to give up again after last time, so with her utmost strength, she yelled out, sending the shadows around the courtyard into a shaking frenzy as they grew and lashed out at anything around them, forming into hooked vines that curled around anything they touched. 

The crew was taken by surprise, suddenly feeling the vine-like darkness wounding around their legs, climbing up their bodies as they struggled to get free. The more they slashed away at them the more they grew, as Dark Korra focused more and more of her power into them. 

As their arms became bound by their sides, the one-arm Kya smiled. "You didn't think I could do this, did you?" She waterbended towards her missing arm, turning the tip into a sharp ice spike as she slashed herself free from the vines, taking Dark Korra by surprise. 

She hurled a row of ice spikes in her direction, forcing Dark Korra to dodge as the woman cut Hattori free. The Chief grinned, readying a metal hook and chain in his hand, spinning it around a few times. 

The bloodbender took a hold of the Dark Avatar, contorting her body as much as she could as the powerful shadowbender fought hard against it, but it was enough for Hattori to throw out the hook, metalbending it to curl around her.

He yanked hard, trying to bring the shadowbender to the ground, only for her to steady herself, widening her stance against the bloodbender's attempts. As her foot slammed down on the ground, she shadows rippled, squeezing the crew tighter and tighter, causing them to grunt as the vines were crushing their chests. 

As both One-Arm Kya and Hattori hurried to free their friends from the grips, the metalbender’s wrist was wrapped up by another shadow tentacle, which had begun to slowly drag him into its cast source.

“Hattori!” The bloodbender yelled out as her friend called for her to focus on freeing the others, Dark Korra grinning as she saw the chance to regain herself. 

She turned her attention back to this world's Avatar. Firelord Zuko had rushed to her side as soon as he was free of the vines, and stood to protect her. 

The Dark Avatar was convinced he was a powerful bender indeed, but having never seen shadowbending before was his greatest downfall against her. She glared into his eyes. 

"How about another scar?" She said, springing up a shadowclaw behind the firelord. 

He realized what was happening too late, and before he could do anything he was pinned to the ground by the shadow's sharp fingers, their tips touching his neck, just about breaking skin enough for him to feel the small trickle of blood running down his throat. He breathed slowly, not daring to move against them. 

His daughter saw this and was ready to rush right into her father’s side after freeing herself from the shadows grip when Izumi noticed the man with the mismatched eyes about to be dragged into the shadows, quickly thrusting her fist out towards it.

The flames just hit the living shadow as Hattori’s hand was about to enter it, causing it to fall back in after letting go of it’s grip.

The Metalbender held his hand back, both at almost having the flesh of his hand stripped from the bones like of his sister’s victims, but also the flames too, turning to see it was the princess of the Fire Nation who had saved him.

His mind went blank as Izumi nodded at him before running off to come to her father’s aid.

“HEY! ONE EYE!” He heard the Kya he knew call out to him, snapping his attention back to freeing his allies, slashing his hook at a shadow grabbing onto Lin.

"And as for you..." Dark Korra said to this world's Avatar, having decided to stroll up slowly towards her target. 

This Korra rushed to help Zuko from the shadow claw, but she was grabbed herself by a shadow hand, clasping her wrists together behind her back. 

The Dark Avatar smiled as she approached her. She wasn't going to lose again. 

That was until Opal sprung up into the air, airbending herself between them and blowing gusts against the shadowbender, forcing her to back up to regain her balance. 

Dark Korra was beyond furious at the interruption. With a roar, she waved her arm through the air, causing a shadow hand to hit Opal out of the air. She braced herself, using airbending to break her fall, only to be hit dead on by a firebolt from the Dark Avatar. The flames hit her chest, sending her flying backwards onto the ground with a loud grunt. 

" _OPAL!_ " Bolin yelled, rushing over to his girlfriend, weaving out of the remaining vines in desperation. 

Seeing him free wasn't a good sign for Dark Korra. She looked behind her, seeing the rest of the crew and the fire nation soldiers had been set free from the vines. They walked towards her in their fighting stances as she panted, holding their Avatar and Firelord hostage. 

Then she felt the heat of a ball of fire right behind her head, close enough to feel it, but not enough to burn her hair. Yet.

“Let the Avatar and my father GO!” Izumi threatened, ready to unleash the fire into her hand right into the back of the intruder’s head the second she or the shadows made a move. “You have no other choice.”

Dark Korra considered her next move, but there were too many of them, and the fight had gone on too long, allowing reinforcements from throughout the city to come to the Zuko of this universe's defense. 

" _You need to retreat._ " Sha-Garou told the shadowbender to her confusion.

"I'm powerful enough. I can take them," she whispered to herself, catching her breath. 

“Repeat that?” Izumi asked, keeping a cool head.

The spirit sensed her anger after failing in the last universe. Dark Korra wasn't thinking straight. " _There's power in choosing your battles too._ " he told her. Now he was telling her to retreat?!

Dark Korra took a moment, staring at the forces gathering around her. He was right. She took a deep breath. 

"You haven't won yet," she said, grasping her gloved hand before vanishing in the purple energy.

The claw pinning Zuko down retreated and the shadow tentacle holding this universe's Korra slowly disappeared. The fire nation soldiers looked around them in shock, but the Fallen Avatar had already evaded them. 

Zuko slowly stood up with Izumi’s aid, wiping away the blood from his throat, and feeling the damage. It was nothing more than a few cuts. He looked across towards the Korra he taught firebending to. "Are you alright, Korra?" 

She nodded. She was shaken up, with no clue what just happened, but she was still alive. 

He looked then turned to his daughter who gave a simple, but thankful nod of the head. With the vines gone, she let out a sigh of relief.

The crew watched as someone rushed out of the palace, pushing past the guards towards Korra. Their eyes widened, seeing this Asami's watertribe influenced getup and her darker skin complexion. It was then that they also realized this Korra was wearing fire nation clothing and had lighter skin than her other counterpart, who was surprised to see herself look in this different manner.

As Bolin knelt over Opal, the airbender was slowly coming to. She groaned and tried to sit up, her painful chest making breathing difficult. 

"Opal? Are you ok?" he asked, his voice full of worry. 

She nodded slightly. "Yeah." She held onto his shoulder to help steady herself. "I'm alright."

"Oh thank the spirits! I was so scared!"

His girlfriend let out a small chuckle, patting his shoulder. "It's only a scratch." Her husky voice from her burning throat would have said otherwise, but she didn't want to worry Bolin any further.

Kya walked over to them, healing water in hand as she got to work on the airbender as Bolin insisted on staying at her side, a thought coming back into mind.

This world's people looked at the crew, realizing their strange resemblances. They didn't know what to do about them, and the guards stood around awkwardly waiting for an order.

Sami sighed. She knew what was coming. "We can explain," she said, her voice tired of saying the same things over and over again, but after seeing the fight the fire nation put up, they absolutely had to have them as allies. 

Zuko hesitated a moment, staring at the doppelgangers of the people he knew. "Alright," he agreed. They had after all helped them in the fight against that evil version of the Avatar he knew. "We'll show you inside."

* * *

The inside of the palace was banged up, with scorch marks running along the walls and floors, and broken furniture lining the halls. They were brought to the Firelord's throne room, treated to some tea as Sami and Korra explained the situation. 

As they were talking, Hattori stole a glance at Izumi. Seeing her brought back a hurricane of memories from his own universe, except this Izumi was a firebender and still the Princess. He had to admit - seeing her bend fire had definitely turned his head. 

For a split second, he thought as he turned away, this Izumi stole her own glance _at him_. But that couldn’t be, she didn’t know him here.

At least that’s what he thought as his mind went back to the night both he and the Izumi he knew shared their first kiss. And then the argument that ended their relationship..

Asami took the time to notice that since this universe's Korra was Fire Nation, that had to have meant that Aang had been from the Earth Kingdom.

"I see," Zuko said, hearing the end of the explanation. "Then we did well to protect Korra." He looked over at the Avatar. Her girlfriend sat at her side, her expression growing more and more worried as she heard what the Dark version of Korra wanted to do all along.

One of the attendees walked around the table, refilling their cups with freshly brewed tea as the Firelord considered the preposition of joining up with their alliance. 

"You bend shadows too. There's a spirit inside you too, isn't there?" 

Sami nodded, allowing her eyes to briefly turn glowing red before back to their natural color. "Her name is Khu-Shui. She's on our side. She's helping us against Sha-Garou… she saved my life."

The Firelord nodded. He had never heard about shadow spirits before, and trusting one but not the other seemed strange. It was times like this Zuko wished his uncle was still alive, he might have had some knowledge of them.

"I think they're telling the truth," Izumi said, looking at all those who had helped her nation in the fight.

Zuko looked around the table at his Avatar and the water tribe Asami. They also seemed to be in agreement. "Very well then," he said. "Then the Fire Nation will have your back in the fight."

The crew let out a sigh of relief. Having Zuko's soldiers would be a huge advantage. 

"Thank you," Sami said. 

“Ah, thank Raava…” Thuy said, having held her breath as Mako patted her shoulder.

“And I’ll be there too, other versions of… me, Asami, friends, think we should come up with nicknames?” The universe’s version of Korra asked, now having to get used to two, if possibly more versions of herself, let alone her friends and her lover. “I think they should have nicknames.” She noted to her fiancée, who held onto her hand.

“Was actually thinking the same thing.” The Asami from the Water Tribe said, kissing her cheek as both Korra and Asami took notice of the betrothal necklace's both women had on. They reminded the two of the one Kya always wore.

"Take all the time you need to prepare for your journey." The Firelord added, taking another sip of his tea. He smiled at the taste. It was just as his Uncle Iroh used to make it, though he was never able to get it quite as perfect. He wondered if Toph ever got close enough.

As they finished their tea, Bolin turned to Opal. "Could I... Could I talk to you outside?"

The airbender raised her brows at his nervous tone. "Sure," she said, following him out into the courtyard as the rest of the crew stayed behind. 

The air outside was still hot from the fire blasts, and the ground was ruined from the impact of the fight. Still, the earthbender paced around nervously before turning towards his girlfriend. 

"So I was really scared when you got knocked over." he said. 

"Bolin, I'm fine, I promise."

"No, I mean I realized how easy it is for one of us to get hurt. Like really hurt. And I'm scared with all these close calls that I won't get the chance to say something." His palms were sweating and his mouth had gone dry. In his head, he was telling himself to keep it together, but in reality, his voice was shaking. 

Opal looked at him attentively. "What are you talking about?"

"Umm... well..." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find the right words. 

The airbender's mind drifted to what she thought was happening, but she didn't want to rush him. She waited patiently as he gathered his thoughts. 

"So you're like... awesome... and stuff," he started saying, earning a little chuckle from his girlfriend. "And ummm... well..." He stopped trying to say nice things, realizing he wasn't exactly nailing it, and instead reached into his pocket. He pulled out the small black box with a shaky hand, fumbling with it and nearly dropping it before catching it again, mumbling under his breath. "Ummm, right. Ok." He steadied himself, opening the little box up to reveal the ring inside.

Opal's eyes widened as her boyfriend cleared his throat. Her thoughts rushed back to the Red Lotus universe when she realized what he wanted to do.

"So, Opal... _will you marry me?_ " He gulped, red in the face. 

A huge smile spread on the airbender's face as she rushed to hug him tightly. The wound on her chest protested, but she held him close nonetheless. "Yes!" she said into his shoulder. "I will."

Bolin let out a huge sigh of relief and as they pulled away, he clumsily slid the ring onto her finger. 

"So you're my fiancé now?" he said. 

Opal chuckled. "Yeah, that's usually how this works."

Bolin smiled widely. "Woo!" He punched the air excitedly. "I'm engaged!" 

His fiancé laughed with him. Though she might have realized this moment was coming a while ago when she found the ring, it still came as a surprise to her. And a happy one too.

Something she knew was needed. 

* * *

While some of the others in the crew had begun laying out a plan, some felt like they needed at least some time to rest.

Such as was Hattori who politely asked where the closest couch was to the Fire Lord, who gave him a humored chuckle, telling him about a guest bedroom that wasn’t too far off from the throne room they were in before telling him not to oversleep.

After thanking Zuko, Hattori let his allies be as he exited the lavish area, just as he heard Bolin and Opal come back in with some form of news he wasn’t able to hear all of, walking down the halls by himself.

As he looked for the bedroom, memories came to mind of when he was only six years old in his universe when Toph brought him and Suyin to the palace for the funeral of Fire Lady Mai, who had passed away peacefully in her sleep after having fought some unknown illness.

He remembered seeing so many sad people in attendance paying their respect to the grieving Fire Lord, from diplomats, civilians and those who served in the Fire Nation armies, to even the ruler’s own family members. 

Hattori also remembered seeing his mother’s friends also in attendance, having privately given their condolences to their longtime ally. He even saw his mother give brief, but noticeable tears for him and his late wife.

He knew his mother and this was one of the few times he really saw Toph cry. The only other notable instancez he remembered was when Avatar Aang died along with his sister Lin passing away in his arms after taking a falling piece of metal to her back and her funeral.

It was then that Hattori noticed a room during his walk, one with couches, chairs and a fireplace, with the walls full of so many books and scrolls.

Looking inside, it reminded him of a similar room he went into during the service where he and his friends stayed in for some time before the service.

Entering it, Hattori looked at the massive shelves full of books and their spines, turning around, seeing in his mind a younger him sitting and laughing as Kya played around on the couches, Bumi looking at a globe and Tenzin trying to look at the books. Suyin wasn’t around as Toph had held the infant in her arms during the entire time they were there.

Then the playing and ruckus stopped once Fire Lord Zuko approached the entrance of the room, with a quiet Izumi at his side, holding a doll in her arms.

* * *

_“Izumi, would you like to play with the others?” He asked his daughter, knowing that between the two of them, Izumi was affected the most as Mai was really close to her daughter, seeing her nod silently._

_The three siblings, with Tenzin taking his attention away from the books and both Kya and Bumi knowing now wasn’t the time for games, approaching the girl, giving her hugs and saying they were sorry as Zuko left them be._

_“Thank you.” Izumi said, her eyes filled with sorrow behind her glasses._

_“Your mother was very nice, she one time slipped me some extra pastries during a fancy dinner I went to.” Bumi said, trying to cheer up his friend, but saw she wasn’t reacting._

_“Bumi, I don’t think that’s what she wants to hear about.” Kya chided her older brother, giving a small slap on his back with her single hand._

_“I hope she’s happy among the spirits.” Tenzin too said to the sad girl, who felt her eyes water more and rushed up onto the couch next to Hattori, who hadn’t moved from his spot, holding her doll tightly in her arms._

_“Way to go Tenzin, you made her cry more!” Bumi called out to his younger brother who objected._

_“I didn’t mean to!”_

_“I’m gonna tell mommy and daddy!” Kya said as she and Bumi gave way to leave the room, the young airbender calling out to them to stop as it was an accident, leaving Hattori alone with Izumi, the boy not knowing what to do with the sad girl._

_“... Hey Izumi…” He began after a moment, not getting a response from the princess, before noting the doll in her hand, noticing it had a small resemblance to her mother. “I like your doll.”_

_Izumi sniffled, looking at the boy with the different looking eyes. She had met him once or twice before, but this was the first time she really got the chance to talk to him, and he to her._

_“Thank you Hattori…” She said, looking at the doll. “My… my mommy gave it to me a year ago for my birthday. She said to take it with me wherever iIgo, so she’d always be there…”_

_Hattori, for as young as he was, already figured out why she clung so deeply to the plush doll at the moment and why she cried at Tenzin’s words._

_Izumi didn’t want her mother in the spirit world, she wanted Mai to be there with her._

_The young boy knew her pain in a similar manner._

_“I’m sorry about your loss…” He began, slowly sliding his hand towards the one holding the doll, trying to be of some form of comfort._

_That and he was hoping she wouldn’t react harshly to a boy touching her, but she didn’t. She just looked down at his hand before moving her sad gold eyes towards Hattori, seeing as he held his head down._

_“At least you got to know your mother.” The boy said before looking at her with both his own gold and blind eyes. “I never knew my father.”_

_“Really?” She asked as Hattori nodded._

_“Yeah. my mommy says he died before I was born.” The boy said, remembering what Toph told him one night when he asked about his father. “He actually served in your daddy’s army.”_

_“He did?” Izumi asked again as Hattori nodded, sadness forming in his eyes. “Wow, he must have been brave.”_

_That got a small smile from the kind boy who knew what she was feeling._

_“That’s what Mommy said.” Hattori said before something came to mind. “I mean, he had to have been, being in the Fire Nation Army and all that!”_

_Izumi couldn’t help but find herself giggling at how jovial Hattori became when they heard footsteps and saw it was Toph with Suyin in her arms. “Hey, Hattori, it’s time for- OH, hello Princess Izumi…” She noticed the small girl’s heartbeat, remembering that Zuko said she was in the room too. “Sorry, but the service is beginning.”_

_“Thank you Ms. Beifong.” Izumi said, trying to give a respectful bow to the Chief of Republic City police, who smiled back._

_With that, both children got off the couch and began making their way when Izumi stopped in front of Hattori. “Hey Hattori?”_

_“Yes?” He asked before she looked down, making him realize he was still holding her hand, a slight blush of red on his face. “OH, right! Sorry-”_

_“No… it’s okay. Can you keep holding my hand, until we get there?”_

_The boy with the mismatched eyes was caught off guard and a bit speechless, but something about those golden eyes behind those glasses seemed to just make him feel… something he didn’t know…_

_… but he liked it, and unknown to him at the time, so did Izumi, so Hattori held onto her hand as they left the room._

* * *

That was the blooming of a relationship between both the children of Toph Beifong and Fire Lord Zuko.

Hattori sat on the couch, remembering that day before other memories of him and Izumi together played out, from playdates whenever either was in town, to seeing each other more when they were teenagers in Republic City with Kya, Tenzin, Bumi and Suyin.

Then there was when they shared their first true kiss under the night sky on Ember Island.

But then things just fell apart.

“Excuse me?”

Hattori’s attention broke from his thoughts as he lifted his head and turned to see Fire Lord- NO, Crown Princess Izumi standing there in her regal attire, still wearing those glasses with her hair in the bun.

“I-I-Izumi?!” The metalbender sputtered out, trying to get up from the couch with his face reddened, only to trip a bit, almost into the bookshelves, but he stopped and tried to regain a more proper form, bowing to her. “I mean Crown Princess Izumi, how can I help you?”

To Hattori’s amazement, he heard the daughter of Fire Lord Zuko give him a light, if amused laugh as she entered the room, sitting on the couch.

“Just call me Izumi, Mr. Hanzo.”

“H-Ha-Hanzo?” Hattori stuttered out the last name as the glasses wearing woman looked at him.

“That is your last name, yes?”

Hattori shook his head. “Ah, actually, n-no… It’s _Beifong_ , Hattori Beifong.” He corrected her, now a bit curious as he looked at her sit where he was sitting, patting on the spot next to her for him to sit back down, which he did. “That… why did you call me that?”

“I thought you looked like someone from my past.” Izumi answered, getting a good look at the man, who felt himself interally blush madly at this different version of a past lover so close to him.

“Are you positive about that?”

This got a slight snicker from the regal woman, who grabbed his head by the chin, looking into his blind eye. “I’ve only met one man in my entire life who had one blind eye…” Then she turned his head to the other side, looking at his gold eye. “And one gold eye.”

The Chief started to have a feeling where she was getting at. “That… I think you may have me confused with… the version of me from this universe.”

The Princess nodded, Hattori thinking to himself how beautiful she looked for her age, still exactly like the one he knew. “I had a feeling once Mrs. Sato, the shadowbender one and your Avatar began explaining multiverse theory. But I wanted to make sure for myself.”

“Actually, I’m not from Korra’s universe, or Sami’s for that matter. Me and Kya, the one armed one, we come from our own universe.” Hattori explained as he saw Izumi listen. “But I get it, it’s all very confusing. Apparently in one universe full of animal people, I’m a bobtail cat. And Lin, Opal and apparently my mother are pandas, not really sure how that worked, considering my father there had to have been a cat.”

The daughter of the Fire Lord could see into him trying to bring some levity into the situation.

But it was obvious to Izumi through his eyes that she could see that Hattori remembered her, or at least a different version of her as well, and was using humor as a coping mechanism. “Interesting…”

The Chief noticed how she was acting and realized what she was thinking, the thought of himself in this universe peeking his attention. “You said you knew me, how?”

Hearing the question, the princess nodded. “Many years ago when I was a teenager, me and some friends of mine, we decided to… "cut loose" if you will, so we snuck out of the palace one night to check out the local area in disguise, be among the locals. There we found this bar and decided to partake in the drinking of alcohol.”

Izumi began remembering more of that night with her and her friends as they drank, Izumi trying her first real glass of Fire Nation Whiskey. She quickly realized it was not for her, afterwards asking for water for the rest of the night.

“It was different for sure, there were no guards watching every move I made, even know my father taught me to defend myself if I had to.” She explained, bending up some fire in her hand as Hattori looked amazed as she easily moved it along her fingers like that trick with the copper pieces.

“But at the same time, it just felt nice to not be Crown Princess Izumi, but just regular old Kana.”

“Kana?” Hattori asked when hearing the name as Izumi gave a small cheeky smile.

“My alias, case I ran into any trouble.” She said before remembering that moment. “Just then, some disgusting moo-sow’s began hitting on us. They tried saying and doing every vulgar thing to get our attention. We told them we weren’t interested, and one actually tried to backhand me.”

Then Izumi smirked a bit. “So I returned the favor. But then the bastard hit a chi point in my wrist, I couldn’t move it for a bit. But that’s when I heard the words come out of _his_ mouth. And I quote…” She then began trying to impersonate the voice of a guy. “Come on, is that any way to treat a lady?”

“Okay, that was a bad attempt at sounding like a guy.” Hattori noted as Izumi shrugged.

“I tried.” She said before resuming, remembering the man who said those words. “There I saw him, or, well, you. When the bastard wasn’t paying attention, preparing another Chi strike, a beautiful katana blade slid just an inch away from his throat. He told him to leave me and the girls alone.”

Then the Fire Princess had to chuckle at what happened next.

“Of course, the oaf or his friends never took “No” for an answer and tried attacking. What happened next…” She gave a slight, if humored huff before looking at Hattori. “Let’s just say your other self taught them a very good lesson in being polite to women.”

Now it was Hattori’s chance to laugh, not how he remembered meeting Izumi, but he liked it. “What happened next?” He asked

“Well, because your other self was so nice, I offered to buy him a drink… only because he broke his own glass of whiskey over one of those moron’s heads.”

“Uh-huh, that’s certainly a "Me" thing to do.” Hattori agreed with that last part.

“Nothing else crazy happened that night, we talked, we sang along poorly to the music the musicians were playing… we just had fun together.” Izumi explained, remembering the fun night the two of them had together. “The furthest we got was a kiss or two, but that was it. By the end, when I had to take the girls back to the palace, we said our goodbyes.”

Then Izumi remembered the last words the both said to each other. “Up to that point, neither of us had given each other our names. He said his name was Hattori Hanzo, and I said my name was Kana. I never saw him again after that night, don’t even think he found out who I really was.”

Listening to the story and seeing how solemn the glasses wearing woman got, Hattori had a feeling she might know more. “Do you know what happened to him?”

The Chief didn’t need an answer to know she knew what happened to his other self, from what Sami said, it happened in other universes.

“Months ago, I heard his name again in the news…” Izumi began, a look of sadness on her face. “Turns out he became a serial killer in Republic City known as the “Equalist Ripper”, a shadowbender. All because some Equalists caused him to accidently kill his wife and daughter before dying himself. Turns out he was corrupted by a Shadow Spirit, but died saving Lin’s life.”

She then looked into Hattori, who lowered his head, damning the shadow spirit that caused this. “Did it happen in your universe too?”

“And some others.” Hattori noted before remembering Lin. “But in mine and Kya’s, it obviously wasn’t me who was the Ripper… it was my sister, Lin Hanzo.”

The firebender’s eyes went wide hearing this, seeing how mournful Hattori was at remembering this. She knew it was maybe best not to pry more into the subject.

“Did you know me in your universe?”

That got a sudden laugh from Hattori, who looked at the princess. “Know you? Shit, we were friends growing up because of our parents! And then we…” Izumi then saw the metalbender’s lip quiver a bit as he looked down. “We were lovers…”

That… actually made sense to Izumi, who admitted to herself that seeing this other version of the man she met once, it brought back the brief feelings she felt for him, even if this clearly wasn’t the same Hattori Hanzo she knew.

“I think the thing I liked most about her, is that Izumi, the one I knew, not… you,” He noted, moving his hand up and down in front of her. “Was that she didn’t define herself just by her family's legacy, she lived her own life. Lived it with me… she didn’t care if I was just some beat cop who happened to have been the son of the Chief of Police…”

Hattori then looked forward, seeing the image of his younger self comforting his friend at her mother’s funeral. “She just loved me for me… and that’s why I loved her.”

Hearing this, Izumi could sense the metalbender still held feelings for her other self, sensing there was pain that remained in him. “What happened? Why aren’t you with her anymore?”

Hattori turned to look at her, the image of the past vanishing. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Like a Polar Bear Dog dancing to “Secret Tunnel”.” Izumi answered with a smile that was both sad and humored.

That made sense to the Beifong man who shook his head, remembering the day. “When her father abdicated the throne. By the way, that’s one difference between your universe and mine, Korra and Sami's.” He pointed out to make sure Izumi didn’t get confused. “He bequeathed the status of Fire Lord to Izumi…”

He then gave a forced smile, looking at the woman next to him. “You got to be Fire Lord, and… she needed a Fire Man… partner, I forgot the proper title for the guy when it’s the woman who becomes Fire Lord..”

“Fire Gentleman.” Izumi answered for him, having to give a smile at how he forgot.

“Thank you.” Hattori noted before his face saddened. “But… the thing was… I couldn’t do it. Like, I loved you- SORRY, I loved Izumi, my Izumi.” He corrected himself, his feelings coming back up. “But… having to leave my old life, start a new one in royalty, even with the woman I loved…”

Tears began falling from both Hattori’s gold and blind eyes, remembering the last words both he and Izumi said to each other. “I couldn’t do it. I was scared, here she was, the most beautiful woman I’ve seen, the closest person in my life next to my family, asking me to be her husband, to be the Fire Gentleman, to help her lead the Fire Nation… And I said no.”

Hattori lowered his head. “I didn’t think that I, some half Earth Kingdom, half Fire Nation guy could live up to her life… I was a coward. We talked back and forth, her trying to convince me that she didn’t care how I was raised, that she loved me regardless…”

Izumi patted Hattori on the shoulder. “But I just couldn’t do it, live up to what I thought at the time standards would be, even though she said she didn’t care… and before she could finish what else she had to say, that was it, I walked out on her. Within the next year, she’d ended up with Kyo, had Iroh II, then Miyoshi… and I just remained alone, other than the occasional one night stand.”

“And if you had the chance to go back and say “Yes”?” Izumi asked to which she saw Hattori nod his head.

“I’d jump on it more than a Flying Lemur on cabbage.”

Izumi saw the saddened Chief think back in his thoughts at how things could have been, thinking back to her own husband. “My Kyo, he passed away many years ago, did the same happen in your universe?” She asked, getting another nod from Hattori. “Have you ever thought of possibly trying to get back with her and apologize?”

“The idea has come up once or twice, but either something bigger was happening, like Kuvira with the Earth Empire… or I just pussed out like a bitch.” He admitted, remembering the most recent time both had seen each other during Kuvira’s invasion, it was clear the damage was still there between the two.

“Hattori, I can’t speak for my other self as things happened differently here…” Izumi began as the Chief listened. “But I loved Kyo, all the years we were together, they were the happiest in my life, he was a good father to Iroh and Miyoshi. And even after he died sooner than he should have, I still love him. That said…” She noted, thinking back to that night when she was younger. “Remembering your other self, who knows what might have happened if we saw each other again, maybe he would have become Fire Gentleman, maybe not. But some stuff, you can only wonder and look back on with fondness or curiosity.”

Then she got up, holding the metalbender’s hand as still was sitting. “Other stuff, you may regret not making a certain choice and it’ll haunt you, making you wonder “ _What if?_ ”...” She then pulled Hattori up and looked into his different looking eyes as he looked into her golden ones. “Some people never get a second chance, so maybe if we all survive this, maybe you should at least heal your wounds and try talking to her.”

Hearing those words, from a version of an old lover, it made Hattori think, giving it some thought before shaking his head up and down, looking back at Izumi as he held her hands, bowing to her. “You’re right. Thank you princess.”

Said princess smiled and leaned into the side of his face, giving him a light kiss on the cheek, smiling at how badly he blushed at this. “I told you, just call me Izumi.”

With that, she made her way out of the room, not even caring that the Kya that Hattori knew was standing there near the entrance, having just watched what happened in amusement, especially at how her friend just now noticed her.

“ _Shit,_ how long have you been there?”

One-Arm Kya couldn’t help but give a shiteating grin, the side where the arm was missing leaning on the doorframe. “Oh, since around the end of Izumi’s story where she was Kana.”

“Right.” Hattori said, not even that bothered that she was eavesdropping, deciding to change the topic. “So, what was, ah, Bolin and Opal talking about when I left? I missed it.”

“OH, the silly bastard proposed to her. And she said yes.” Kya said with a smile, happy for the two, sensing what Hattori was trying to do as he nodded.

“Really? Huh, good for them.” He said as paced a bit in a line before beginning to walk out of the room “Gotta give them my congratulations when we get back, maybe threaten Bolin into treating Opal like a princess-”

“ _Hattori…_ ” Kya said, just as he was about to pass her, putting her single hand on his shoulder to stop him, her voice no longer full of snark, but of comfort. She knew about his relationship with Izumi, but didn't know the whole story of how it ended and what she heard was the first time she knew. “Are you feeling okay?”

Thinking back quickly to what Izumi said about what he should try to do, Hattori looked at his close friend before turning back around, now seeing the image of him and his Izumi as teenagers in the room sharing a kiss, nodding. “Yeah,” He said before looking back at her, a simple smile on his face. “Much better actually.”

With that, he and Kya walked back to the throne room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like noted in the beginning, this was a nice breather chapter, another Korra was saved, Bolin finally proposed to Opal and she said yes, and we gone into the backstory of Chief Hattori and his history with the Izumi he knew!
> 
> Also, small sidenote, I know in the previous story, me and Coniine had a fancasting of Brad Dourif as Hattori Hanzo and Sha-Garou, and while he's still our number one choice, if we had to give Chief Hattori Beifong a different voice actor (Due to being a different universe version of him), it'd certainly be John DiMaggio, if because of him as the "Cured" Joker from the diner scene from "Batman: Death in The Family".
> 
> Note, this is the last universe focused in a single chapter as the next batch of universes will be checked out in more than one chapter. So what's the next universe gonna be? Well, without spoilers, let's just say things are gonna be more themed than you'd expect.


	10. Chapter Nine- Rise of The Avatar Knight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some graphic violence and a moment of brief attempted sexual assault. So just a heads up.
> 
> Hope you give kudos and review!

The send-off they got was small and discrete, but they had the confirmation from Zuko and his generals that they would be ready when the time comes. They said their goodbyes to the Fire Lord and his daughter, as well as this world's Avatar and her fiancé. 

"Time for the next universe," Sami said, looking across to the crew, making sure they were all joined up before she powered up the crystal. 

The last thing they saw before their vision went blurry with purple was the fire nation temple's scorched walls. 

They squinted as the new world came into view, slowly realizing they were only staring at some trees. That was strange. 

The crew looked around them, but there was nothing. Just a dirt path through the trees, and a swarm of flies bugging Mako. 

"Brilliant," Lin said. "Teleported into the middle of nowhere."

They walked a little while down the path, trying to figure out where they were, when the sound of a snapped branch made them freeze in their tracks. They watched the woods out of the corner of their eyes, getting into their fighting stances. For all they knew, anything could be out there. 

Something whizzed through the air past them, lodging itself into the tree at their side. It was a flaming arrow, and the smoke it gave off quickly rose, making them cough as their eyes stung.

Two figures rushed towards from the foliage on either side, cutting their path off. The crew turned around, only to find another figure blocking their way the other way too. 

Hattori squinted, trying to make them out as he tried to step forward to use his seismic sensing. "What in the name of Aan-"

Then he heard the sound of something rustling under his foot, noticing he stepped over a metal snare that tightened around his foot and pulled him up into the air as he swung around against his own will in the air as Bolin tried grabbing him, only to step into another snare, sending him in the air too.

“WOAH!! HELP US!”

The male Beifong tried to metalbend himself and Bolin free, but his bending wasn’t working on the metal and neither was Lin’s or Thuy’s, realizing what kind it was. “Shite, it’s platinum!” Thuy called out.

The others then saw the figures approach them, and one of them spoke in a familiar voice. 

"I don't think these are the bandits," one of them said. From what they could make out in the smoke, he was a big, bulky man, holding a large warhammer. 

Next to him was another fighter, and she took a moment before answering. "Why does that one look like you?" She had two axes in her hand, but seeing the faces of the crew, she slowly lowered them as the smoke began to clear.

Getting some proper looks themselves, the crew realized they were looking at different versions of Korra and Bolin.

While they certainly bore resemblance, these versions of the two looked different. This Bolin with the warhammer wore armor that covered his strong upper body, green pants that too had plates of armor over his side with large leather boots, his hair looking longer than his upside down counterpart’s.

“WOAH… look at the hair!” Bolin said, amazed at how his weapon wielding doppelganger’s hair looked, despite still being hung upside down.

“Hey Korra, she looks like you!” Another familiar voice rang out from the trees above as the group, sans the Avatar, looked up.

Jumping down was an archer in a loose long sleeved black and red uniform and shoes, carrying a beautiful looking wooden bow in his gloved hands, the quiver full of arrows on his back. And there was no mistaking that the archer looked like Mako, except his hair looked to have been shaved down into a mohawk that fell on it’s side.

Not that Korra herself noticed as she looked at her other self who was looking back at her, seeing how she was dressed.

It looked like this version of her was wearing a furred breastplate and garter of blue and white colors, as was the large loincloth around her waist and down to her knees. There were also bony looking pauldrons on her shoulders which too had the fur along with a matching pair of boots and wrist guards in a similar style. Strapped onto her back was a big shield which looked to have the symbol of the water tribe.

But what got Korra’s attention more, other than the very sharp looking axes this battle ready version of her carried, was the blue war paint on her upper arms and legs, all looking like designs she’d see on water scrolls.

The axe wielding version of the Avatar looked closely at her other self noting the odd attire and her hair being shorter than hers, which she allowed to grow freely down the middle of her back. “Who are you? Are you me?” She asked.

Korra saw the axes lowered and held her hands up, not wanting to start a fight. “Yes. You and me are the same person… with different choices in clothes.” She added, looking into her warrior self’s Cyan colored eyes, which had the same blue war paint around them.

“Please, you’re in danger!” Sami said, getting closer as did Asami, getting the three oddly dressed versions of their friends’ attention.

“Hey, there’s two of you my lady!” The warrior proclaimed in a playful manner to both Sato women’s surprise.

“My lady?” Asami asked until both her and Sami felt someone drop between their backs and their allies, turning around to see the figure.

There they saw what looked like a sword and shield wielding figure their height, covered head to toe in light, but formable red and black steel armor, with an odd looking helmet over their head, which they took off with metal gloves that bore a resemblance to Asami’s electric glove, showing the raven haired woman under it, her own light green eyes looking at her two other selves.

“Yes, I am Lady Asami of the House Sato…” She answered, ruffling her hair, revealing to both Asami and Sami’s surprise that her ears _were pointed_. “You mentioned something about my betrothed, The Avatar Knight, being in danger?”

“Wait, “Avatar Knight”?” Opal asked curiously as everyone looked back at the warrior who scoffed a slight bit.

“Yeah, sorry I’m not in my proper “Avatar Knight” armor, I'm more comfortable in the battle attire of my clan.” The warrior woman said, looking at Korra as she put one hand against her chest. “I’m the current one holding the title, I come from a long line of special knights who have the ability to control all four elements instead of just one.”

The warrior woman then showed Korra her wrist, with what looked like small tattoos of the symbols that make up the four elements tattooed on it, the one for “Water” glowing blue. “My previous life, I was an Air Monk, and in my next life, I will be an Earth Fighter. Then something fire related and so on. But you can call me Korra of the Southern Water Clan, or Korra for short.”

“That…” Korra began, looking at herself before holding her hands together in amazement. “... _IS SO AMAZING!_ It’s like the Avatar cycle, but somehow more badass!” She said to her other self’s content, turning to the rest of the crew to see them surprised at how different things seemed with the Avatar.

“I am Mako The Fire and Lightning.” The bow and arrow wielding Mako said, bowing before noting the version of Bolin next to him flexing his muscles as he held his large hammer in hand. “And the one full of vanity here is my silly brother, Bolin The Magma Warrior.”

“Nice to meet you all! Including you lady who looks like the lovely Wind Mage who stole my heart.” The stronger looking Bolin welcomed, pointing at Opal, who couldn’t help but find the sight of this version of her now fiancé very attractive.

“Look at them arms…” She said, feeling hearts in her eyes.

“OPAL! I’m right here!” Bolin himself called out as he and Hattori were still stuck upside before looking at his alternative and more stronger looking self. “But I will say, I am so RIPPED in this universe!”

“Might I say it’s strange to see you in this attire Lin Beifong, Captain of the Metal Guard.” Korra of Southern Water Clan exclaimed looking at Lin’s uniform, said woman furrowing her eyes at the name.

“Captain of the Metal Guard?” She repeated the odd title as Princess Asami nodded, looking at both Kya and One-Arm Kya.

“And we had no idea the captain’s lover, Kya The Water Priestess, had identical sisters!”

“Okay, that title makes sense.” Kya noted as her one-armed self gave her a smile coated in snark at her other self.

“Which one, “The Water Priestess” or “The Captain’s Lover”?”

“I was not aware that the lovely maiden who guards the Jasmine Dragon too had a sister who partook in quests.” Mako The Fire and Lightning said, holding and kissing the top of a blushing Thuy’s hand.

“OH, well, I have to do something when I’m not roughing up any knackers.” The metalbending girl said before holding Mako’s hand. “But I’m taken, thank you anyway.”

“Maybe stick to the other lovely maiden.” Mako himself noted, feeling weird that he had to play protective boyfriend against another version of himself.

“And that leaves… wait, who are you?” Bolin the Magma Warrior tried asking the still upside down Hattori, who gave a deadpan look with his mismatched eyes.

“I’m very fucking confused, _THAT'S WHO I AM!_ ” He yelled out turning his body to look at the odd versions of the other three he knew. “Unless you guys know where to find “Kuvira The Platinum Mover”, can any of you get me and “Mr. Recently Engaged” down?!” He demanded, pointing at Bolin.

“Oh, I can!” Korra of The Southern Water Clan said, clenching her hand towards the platinum snarl holding up Hattori, causing it to loosen around his leg… before he fell down onto the ground on the back of his head.

“... oww…” He groaned on the ground, feeling a bit groggy from the pain as the Avatar Knight apologized. “... hey, Kya… would you mind helping me out here?”

“ _Which_ Kya are you talking to, Hattori?” One-Arm Kya asked as she and Kya didn’t know which one he was asking, pointing at each other as Bolin The Magma Warrior made sure the same thing didn’t happen to his other self as his ally got him down.

“Oh, either the “Water Priestess” or “The Captain’s Lover”, doesn’t matter…” Hattori snarked as best as he could in his current state as Kya went over him and began healing his possible concussion.

“Wait, Hattori? As in Hattori Hanzo The VIII of the Hanzo Blacksmiths? Also known as “The Firstborn child of Toph Beifong”, who founded The House of Metal.” Mako The Fire and Lightning asked.

“If I say yes, will you just refer to me as Hattori Beifong?” Hattori groaned out more at the use of titles, though Kya’s healing was working wonders on his head.

“Look, I’m glad we’re all making introductions, but time is something we don’t have a lot of.” Sami pointed out, looking at Korra of the Southern Water Clan. “You’re in danger, she’s in danger.” She noted, her hand out towards Korra. “All the universes are in danger, because a wicked evil is coming to yours next.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem second lady who looks like Lady Asami.” The Avatar Knight smirked, looking at her allies, putting her arm around her armored lover. “Me and my fellow compatriots have faced many terrors, monsters, wicked men and women, we welcome the challenge. We even faced off against a Shadow Demon that had possessed the previously mentioned Hattori Hanzo.”

“Okay, but what about that same Shadow Demon _who has taken possession of us?_ ” Korra asked her warrior counterpart. Something which made the axe wielder stop in her tracks, the look on her painted face changed from being full of bravery to stricken horror as she looked at her equally as shocked partners.

“Taken possession of us?”

“ _Yes…_ ”

Korra of The Southern Water Clan then turned her head to the source of the odd, yet familiar female voice, noticing it was coming out of Sami’s mouth, seeing those same evil red and yellow eyes she remembered many months before.

“ _And I prefer the term ‘Shadow Spirit’._ ”

* * *

Her vision as she opened her eyes was cloudy, trying to adjust to the dim light above her.

She tried to get a grasp of things, but her head hurt so much.

“Ohh… my head.” Dark Korra groaned out, feeling her forehead.

But then, she noticed she noticed she was in a bed… and she was looking up a ceiling of cement, the only source of light shining on it.

“Ah, see you’re finally awake.”

Well, the shadowbender knew it wasn’t Sha-Garou talking. If he was, her head would have hurt even more as she tried to think as to what’s going on.

“ _I have no idea where we are…_ ”

And there was that damn voice making her headache worse.

“ _Thanks, I appreciate the love._ ”

“Where am I?” Dark Korra groaned, trying to get herself up quickly, but felt a sudden drop in force before she felt two sets of small hands hold her up.

“Hey, relax lady!” A young boy’s voice rang out on her right.

“Father says you’re still recovering.” And now a young girl’s voice was talking on her left.

Taking it easy, the shadowbending Avatar got up again at a slower pace, her eyes adjusting more to see that she was in someone’s guest room as the place looked to have no electricity, seeing a light skinned man with a farmer’s hat over his bald head looking to put some firewood next to a fireplace.

She then took sight of the children on both her sides. The boy had a more of an tan skin tone like her’s while having short brown hair and expressive blue eyes behind a small pair of glasses while the girl resembled her father with her skin tone, though her hair was the same color as her brother, only done up in a bun while her grey eyes were more subdued

“Where am I, what… is this place?” Dark Korra asked, trying not to talk so loudly as she noticed her head was bandaged up.

“We’re in the forests near Yue Bay, close to Republic’s Gate, in our home.” The father answered, the fallen Avatar confused at the name.

“Republic’s _what?_ ”

“Republic’s Gate, the largest city in all of the four nations. Must have bumped your head quite hard, miss.”

“ _I think he means this universe’s version of ‘Republic City’..._ ” Sha-Garou noted with an observation as Dark Korra slowly got up from the bed and looked around the environment, seeing how simple inside the house was. Almost as much as her old home back with her parents.

Slowly stepping up and looking outside the window, Dark Korra saw she was at some farm, judging by the free range animals and large garden. She also took note they were in some sort of forest area before taking notice of the clothes these people were wearing looking different than she expected.

Then she also took note of the single dirt road outside going in a straight line, having no idea which way goes where.

Dark Korra then tried to collect her thoughts, she remembered escaping that universe where Zuko was still Fire Lord, having seen all of his army stand by the side of the Prime, her friends and her old lover.

Once her vision no longer was blurry with the purple energy light, Dark Korra had realized she had come out in midair, falling down towards some green and lush trees in a forest.

She tried using airbending to break her fall, but she was already falling too fast, crashing into some branches on the way down, rolling off one into one last branch face first, causing her to hit the ground, knocked out.

The next thing she knew, she was awakening in this home of this man and his children.

As much as these little brats were annoying her with their incessant noise, asking where she came from, a question did come into mind.

“How’d you find me?”

“OH, we were coming from the merchant's stands when Father spotted you lying on the ground nearby.” The boy said as the girl nodded.

“Good thing he found you. Also, i’m Biyu, he’s Toklo!” She finished, giving her and her brother’s names.

“And I’m Fu-Han.” The father said, turning around to look at Dark Korra. “And you are?”

She tried thinking of a fake name, something that wouldn’t raise attention, especially if she was to try finding her other self in this universe, so they don’t have anything to connect her to the death of the Avatar here.

“A-Amka. I’m Amka.” The Evil Avatar lied, before just hearing Sha-Garou laughing madly at the choice of name.

“ _Amka?! HAHAHAHA! That literally means 'Friendly Spirit'!_ ” She heard him laugh in hysterics, finding this too funny. “ _You and I both know I'm anything but!_ ”

“Well, nice to meet you Amka. I brought you here so my wife Anjij can have a proper look at your head when she comes inside from checking on the animals, she’s a water healer from the Northern Water Clan, she’ll fix you up in no time.” Fu-Han assured the woman he didn’t realize looked just like the fabled Avatar Knight.

“T-Thanks.” Dark Korra responded with, thinking to herself that she’d leave and focus on finding the Avatar of this universe after getting healed, just before noticing Biyu looking at her, curious. “What?”

“I like your hair, it’s very pretty.” The little girl said, trying to touch the cornrowed part of the hair before the shadowbender stopped her.

“DON'T touch me.”

That earned a small pout from the girl, instantly feeling bad.

“Biyu, that was rude, apologize to Amka.”

“... I’m sorry.” The girl said, her grey eyes being saddened, something which while Sha-Garou groaned at, a slight part of the corrupted Avatar felt… _somewhat bad for_.

“It’s okay… I just don’t like being touched… without permission, you didn’t know.” She muttered, hoping it’d make the girl happy, noticing the small gleam in her eyes. Well, maybe it worked.

“Good thing we found you before nightfall.” Toklo said, getting the shadowbender’s attention as she looked at the boy.

“What do you mean?”

“Guess you’re not a local.” Fu-Han guessed, to which both Dark Korra and Sha-Garou mentally shrugged, he was sort of right. “At night, it’s not safe to be outside in this part of the woods without proper protection. Various creatures come out, giant sabertooth rats, lizard snakes, spider wolves, goblins.”

That last one caught Dark Korra’s attention as compared to the other three, that last one didn’t sound so bad… even though she knew nothing about them. Yet it was the way the man said it that peaked her attention the most “ _Goblins?_ What are they?”

“Little green remorseless demons, that’s what. Trust me, you don’t want to encounter one, let alone a whole batch of them. Especially considering…”

The way Fu-Han was leaving silence open got to Dark Korra, who moved closer and waved her hand for him to continue.

“Especially considering what?”

“... _your gender_.” He finished before hearing the door open. “OH, there’s Anjij now.” He said, changing the topic as quickly as he could, waving to his wife from the North Pole, who had entered the home, having been collecting some chickenmouse eggs in a basket, seeing Dark Korra awake.

“Oh hello, finally awake I see.” Anjij said with a caring smile, one that actually reminded the shadowbender of her mother’s. “Did you get a name?” She asked her husband who gave her the false one Dark Korra told him, looking to buy it.

Yet the thing bugging her was the way this friendly man’s demeanor changed when talking about these “Goblins” confused the shadowbender, especially when he alluded to her gender.

She wondered if Sha-Garou knew anything about these creatures.

“ _Frankly, I’m just as confused as you are, Korra. It’s a weird feeling truth be told… I don’t like it._ ” The shadow spirit noted, familiar with most of the creatures named except for that kind as Anjij approached Dark Korra, with a wooden bucket of water and a washcloth, having her sit on a wooden chair.

“Alright, let’s try patching you up.” She said, with Dark Korra allowing her to take off the bandage, seeing the bump that had swollen up and turned purple, using her bending to move the water out of the bucket and began healing the wound.

Her style of healing also reminded her of Kya’s.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Master Tenzin of the Air Monks will tell you the kind of information you’re looking for." Bolin The Magma Warrior said. 

The crew followed them down the dirt path as the sun was going down. As interesting as this universe seemed to be, hearing this “Avatar Knight” Korra go on about the monsters that come out at night made them somewhat nervous. 

Luckily, it wasn't long until the walls of the so-called Republic’s Gate became visible. The city was impressive, with large stone walls protecting the residents from the terrors that plagued the night. On the outskirts however, were fields of farms, and lumber mills set up on the edge of the woods. It was strange to see everything be so different.

"Air Temple Island is through the city." Korra of The Southern Water Clan said. 

They came up to the grand gate that the city got its name from. The wood was reinforced with iron casts, held up and closed by large steel chains, manned by the vanguards up on the wall. Two metalbender guards were posted on the ground in front of the gate, adorned in shining armor and close faced helmets. Seeing the Avatar Knight approaching they nearly signaled for the gate to be opened, until their eyes fell on the rest of the crew. 

They hesitated thinking it's some sick trick of the creatures living deep in the woods, until they saw the mighty Avatar Knight speak up for them. 

"It's urgent," she said. "We need to see Master Tenzin."

Hearing the legendary warrior’s true voice, they signaled for the gate to open. The chains let the solid oak down with a steady clank, and the crew stepped into the city. 

The streets bustled with people, some dressed in worn tunics of commoners, some clad in thick armor, or noble cloaks. Rangers with leather breastplates and stunning longbows passed them, along with rogues with covered faces and bandaged arms. The plethora of people of Republic’s Gate seemed even more diverse than in their own universe, from the array of weapons, to the mixture of different cultures and titles. 

The buildings were wooden, and the streets paved with cobblestone, but the signage was painted in bright colors to draw their attention. Apothecaries, taverns, and blacksmiths advertised their business outside their establishments, and the array of potions set up outside a healer's hut drew Bolin and Kya’s attention for way too long.

"Come on," Mako The Fire and Lightning said, noticing the crew slowing down to take in the sights. 

The crew was brought back to reality, and carried on following their alternate selves through the streets. They garnered some strange looks from the locals. Their way of dressing certainly did not fit with the universe, but being escorted by the Avatar of this world meant no one stopped them. 

Even before the knights told them, they knew they were nearly there. Across the water, they spotted the island they were after. 

* * *

Dark Korra sipped slowly at the broth the family had given her. It wasn't that hot anymore, but it tasted nice and fatty on her lips as she hadn’t eaten in awhile. Whatever it was, it must have been a big deal for the poor farmers. 

"You're free to rest for as long as you like, Amka," Anjij said. 

"Thank you," Dark Korra muttered before sipping the last few drops of broth from her bowl. 

"It might be a good thing you came round at this time," Fu-Han said. "Word has it the farmers saw the Avatar Knight walk through here towards the city. Maybe she's in town."

Dark Korra froze. "The _Avatar_ Knight? You mean-" 

Toklo piped up. "Yeah! Maybe Korra's back from some epic quest with her allies!"

"I bet she slayed fifty giant sabrecats!" His sister added. 

"More! A hundred!"

The children giggled and pretended to fight, but Dark Korra's attention wasn't on them anymore. She was reminded of why she was here. 

"Thank you for your hospitality, but I need to go," she said flatly, laying the bowl down on the table and standing up. Her headache was fading, but the remnants of it were still uncomfortable. She had to push through it. 

"Already? Are you sure you don't want to rest a while?" The father asked. 

She shook her head. "I need to go, which way is it to Republic’s Gate?"

“Take a turn on the left when you leave the property.” Anjij asked, yet with a worried tone in her voice. “But nightfall is coming, are you sure you’ll be alright outside and all alone?” She asked more to the girl who she sensed was from one of the Water Clans, but she couldn’t pinpoint which one, as the light outside dwindled as night began to fall. 

Hearing that, Dark Korra couldn’t help but give a small smirk, bending a small blue flame in her hand. “Trust me, I can handle myself.” She said with a brave face, the stories of the creatures the family told her about were already forgotten. 

She headed out the door, its feeble and squeaky hinges hurting her ears as she stepped out into the cold of the night. A few lanterns lit up the dirt paths, but other than that it was too dark to see much else.

The Shadowbender headed down the path towards the tall walls in the distance, she began to feel the energy of her target rising, smirking to herself.

But in the darkness, she heard multiple rapid footsteps, but relaxed when she realized they weren't coming towards her. Whatever the horde she heard was, they were after something else and she wasn't concerned about it. She just had to find the Avatar. 

It was only a few moments later that she heard the screams. She frowned, looking behind her. They were coming from the small farmers' shack.

In the dim light of the lanterns she could make out the silhouettes of the figures that taunted the weak door of the house. There was a full horde of them - hunched, grotesque creatures, banging on the walls and shrieking in an ear wrenching cacophony. 

She remembered. They must have been goblins. 

" _What are you waiting for? Go! Korra's in the city!_ " Sha-Garou's voice rang inside her head. 

She hesitated, still looking back at the goblins as they nearly broke into the house. 

" _You're not seriously considering this!_ " The spirit yelled. " _Find. The. Avatar! Now!_ " He commanded, getting on Dark Korra's nerves. 

"You're giving me a headache," she said. She looked out at the pillaging beasts and something started to burn inside her. She ignored Sha-Garou, before sinking into the shadows. 

"Anjij! Get the kids in the back room!" Fu-Han called out to his wife, grasping his pitchfork tightly in his hands. 

The woman gathered the panicked children around her and rushed to get away, hearing the door break down behind her. As she rushed away, she gasped as the window shattered in front of her, and a contorted, wrinkly green beast hurled itself through it. It bared its yellow rotting teeth as it approached her, a hefty club in his hands.

Anjij screamed, pulling her children tighter around her to protect them as the creature suddenly grabbed her by the dress, tearing at it as she got out of it’s grip with a disgusting laughter.

Her husband was trying to hold his ground at the front door, but his measly pitchfork was no match for the creatures forcing their way through. There were too many of them, and this time he was sure they won't be able to hold them off. 

Dark Korra snuck up on the beasts in the shadows along the walls of the house. She emerged, and in one swift motion took out one of them, shoving a spiked shadow tentacle through his abdomen, narrowly missing his chestplate of scrap metal. The goblin let out a guttural and gruesome gag as he dropped to his knees, coughing up his curdled green blood. 

She sensed one come up behind her, club up above his head ready to strike, only to suddenly see her wave her arm at him without even turning her head, with what looked like some dirt from the ground following her hand as it went across the creature’s neck.

The little green ugly body landed with a bloody plop, followed by _it’s head_ rolling next to the evil Avatar’s feet.

“ _Nasty little ones, aren’t they?_ ” Sha-Garou snarked, seeing the creature’s headless corpse through his host’s eyes before Dark Korra shifted her attention through the broken window.

Her eyes widened as she saw Anjij flailing a feeble candle at two goblins coming towards her, pushing her children behind her to protect them. Then they pushed her to the ground and began ripping off her skirt as she screamed and struggled, with Biyu and Toklo too frightened to move as they watched one lick the tears pouring down Anjij’s face, while the other focused its attention at them, a rusted blade being raised towards the children.

 _Something_ inside the Dark Avatar screamed. A rage boiled in her chest, she had no choice but to take action now.

And for once, the Shadow Spirit was fine with what she wanted to do.

“ _Korra, RIP AND TEAR THEM APART. NOW!_ ”

She threw herself through the window with a cry, drawing the goblins' attention back to her. While there were only the two of them, they were tall and bulky, their coarse green skin barely visible under the thick scrap armor they crafted for themselves. Under the ugly dented helmets she could make out their glowing yellow eyes, and a pair of curled, cracking horns emerging from their foreheads. 

Everything about these creatures made her head burn with anger as she saw them attack the family. The fury she felt now was strong and hot, but she felt in control of it. 

The beasts charged her, clubs raised, and drool dripping out of their stinky mouths. She smirked, dipping into the shadows, leaving them looking around the room confusedly. She emerged behind them, the dimly lit room allowing for an advantage. She conjured up a shadow spike, lunging towards one of the goblins. The spiked shadow bounced off the metal armor, but it worked a deep crack into its torso. 

The goblin turned, frothing at the mouth and swung with its club, but a shadow tentacle grabbed his wrist, yanking it behind his back, contorting the arm painfully between his shoulder blades as he yelled. 

The other beast rushed forward, head down to headbutt the Dark Avatar. She conjured up a shadow claw, catching him by the helmet and yanking his head upwards. The goblin's wide eyes were bloodshot as it clutched at the shadow to free himself, feeling the sharp fingers of the claw finding the underside of his helmet and digging into his jaw. 

Dark Korra grinned as green blood dripped down his throat, and with one final yank of the claw, his neck cracked loudly, and the body went limp. 

The evil Avatar turned towards the other struggling being. Seeing the death of his comrade he stared at her with fearful eyes. She and Sha-Garou had a million ideas of how to make him suffer.

But seeing the cowering children behind their mother, who crawled over to them, Dark Korra dropped those ideas and settled with simply wrapping a shadow tentacle around his throat, squeezing tightly, draining the air out of him until he stopped moving. 

Before she could relax, she turned her attention to the husband, trying to hold off the few goblins out by the door. His pitchfork snapped in half and he was holding the head of the tool, trying to intimidate the beasts. 

Dark Korra didn't have any more time to lose. She rushed to his help, shoving the man out of the way of the goblins as she took up his spot. He was shocked to see her back, and the writhing shadows around her scared him initially until he realized she was helping them. 

"Stand back!" she ordered, and the man did as he was told. 

She lifted up shadow arms around her as the goblins charged inside, and in an instant lunged them at the beasts.

They screamed horrifically as they were thrown backwards onto the dirt outside, ripping the door straight off its hinges. Dark Korra rushed after them, a cloak of shadows gathering around her as she airbended herself into the air above the fallen goblins.

They looked up at her, fighting against the tentacles to get up, only for her to gather the shadows around her, compacting them tightly in a thick shroud, before letting them lose, exploding out onto the ground below her. 

The goblins shrieked, shielding themselves against the meteor shower of darkness with their arms, but the shadows were sharp as blades, and their feeble armor couldn't hold. The night filled with their screams of pain as their bodies were covered in cuts and bled on the mud. 

It wasn't enough. She needed to make sure they would never rise again. The Dark Avatar channeled the rage she felt for the creatures, and the protectiveness she felt for the family, and let out a thundering battle cry, breathing blue fire onto the creatures below her. 

Their bodies burned, and the smell of their scorched flesh filled the air. It was putrid and rotten, but she didn't stop until every last one was nothing more than a charred corpse.

But before she could smile at her work and catch her breath as she slowly descended back onto the ground, that damn Goblin she had choked out inside the house lunged onto her back, preparing to drive it’s knife into her back with a sneak attack.

Too bad for it that Dark Korra wasn’t having any of it’s shit, flipping the creature over her shoulders and onto the ground as it gave a grunt of pain.

Opening it’s yellow eyes, it saw the Shadowbender over him bending up in her hands the black water from the shadows and the mud from nearby into pointed ice and stone weapons in her hands.

The last sight the goblin saw before giving a screech was both knives being driven into its face, green blood squirting out as Dark Korra ripped out the makeshift knives out of the wounds, yet she didn’t feel finished, repeatedly stabbing the face of the creature multiple times, the rage she felt against these vile monsters driving her to do so.

With every slam of the knives, Dark Korra swore she saw she was stabbing into everyone who hurt her, Amon... Unalaq... Vaatu... Zaheer... Guan... 

“ _Korra… Korra…"_

... and for the briefest of moments, she swore she was stabbing _herself._

“ _KORRA, THAT’S ENOUGH!_ ” Sha-Garou yelled out, both because she was wasting valuable time, but also that he knew the rage she felt was not of his own doing.

At those words, Dark Korra stopped, panting hard as she realized that she turned the Goblin’s head into nothing by green mush, her hands and part of her face covered in it’s blood.

She then looked behind her, seeing the family clinging together, staring at her in utter fear. Their petrified expressions almost... saddened her as the fallen Avatar knew what they were thinking. 

"... I'm _sorry_." She got out, but she felt like it could never be enough. 

She turned back round, walking away. 

"Are you the Avatar Knight?" Toklo shouted after her, having regained his voice, being the first to break out of his fear. 

Dark Korra looked at him. The question took her by surprise, though she should have expected it. Was she the Avatar anymore? She had been. She was still supposed to be. 

Looking into the boy's innocent eyes, she answered him, "I was.”

The family still stared at her as she walked away, leaving them for good.

* * *

“Master Tenzin, thank you for letting us in this late.” Korra of the Southern Water Clan said, giving a bow of respect to her airbending teacher as she and the others entered the temple as the moonlight lit up the area around the balcony in his meditation room.

It had looked similar to how Air Temple Island looked in the regular universes, but the different style of robes these Air Monks wore were certainly different, mainly being so loose and enlarged over their bodies, with the orange beads around their necks.

It was also a relief to Korra and Asami that like in their universe, there were just as many of them, assuming most were still trainees.

“Of course Korra, I always welcome helping you out.” Master Tenzin said, not looking all that different from the Prime universe self, aside from his choice of robes and the staff he carried, looking at the other three along with the crew he was unfamiliar with. “I assume it’s an important occasion considering these spirit doppelgangers with you?”

“That’s a new one.” Mako noted as the warpaint wearing girl gave a silly grin, her hand out towards them.

“Not quite, they’re travelers from different realms, other versions of me, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Opal, Lin and Kya.”

“Boy, you are getting the short end of the stick in this universe.” One Arm Kya made sure to note to her friend about him not being mentioned, the male Chief closing his mismatched eyes in annoyance.

“You’re lucky you’re endearing.” Hattori grated through his teeth.

“And apparently necromancers if _HE’S_ here.” Master Tenzin said with a finger pointed towards the metalbender whose eyes opened up wide in disbelief.

“Seriously?! I’m dead here too? How many universe’s do I die in?!” He yelled, looking in shock at Sami as Bolin gave it some thought.

“Not all of them, your kitty cat self was alive in-” Bolin began, only for his fiancé to nudge her shoulder into his side to quiet him, feeling somewhat bad for her uncle from a different universe.

“I don’t think any necromancy is about, brother…”The voice of Kya rang out...

... but not from the two in the crew, but from _another_ who made her presence known in the large area, clad in a beautiful blue and silver colored hooded robe, her waterskin tied onto the belt around her waist as she wore her collar and necklace.

“Kya The Water Priestess...” Mako The Fire and Lightning gave her name as this Kya walked past her younger brother.

“Sister, what makes you think he’s not undead?” Master Tenzin asked as the Water Priestess approached Hattori, waving her hand over his forehead, his two different looking eyes watching as she sensed something about him with her bending.

“His energy is that of the living, he’s not the undead.” She said as Hattori nodded as she lowered her hand. “I remember your other self, so filled with anger and loss. But a good heart still laid in him. My Lin wishes she got to know him better before his passing.”

“Thank you?” Was all the metalbender could say, still a little deflated to know that he was in yet another universe where he gave into Sha-Garou and died, he just hoped that like most others, he died a hero.

“Master Tenzin…” Korra began, getting the monk’s attention. “The reason we’re all here is a old foe, or at least a version of the one you remembered, has been traveling throughout multiple universes, going after other versions of me and your Korra…” She said, pointing at her alternative self who nodded in agreement. “We were told that you may be able to help us.”

“A foe from the past, you mean Amon The Deceiver?” Tenzin asked, remembering the masked leader who led a non-bender group against those who had the ability to bend, only to be revealed as a false prophet who himself was a bender of blood.

“No.” Lin answered to which Tenzin, after realizing how much she resembled his old romantic partner who was now in a relationship with his sister, thought over some more possible opponents, remembering the one who tried bringing the world into disorder through trying to end the Avatar Knight lineage with his fellow cult members.

“Zaheer, Devoted Follower of The Cult of The Red Lotus?”

“Nope.” Bolin answered this time.

“Tokuga The Half Spirit?” Tenzin asked.

“Na-ah.” Kya said with a shake of her head.

“Kuvira The Platinum Mover? Former leader of The Earth Empire Army, redeemed after helping stop her mad commander Guan when he attempted to control the minds of the masses in Gaoling.”

“AH-HA! I called her title!” Hattori bragged, before shaking his head at the Air Monk Master. “And no, it’s not her.” He then answered in the same tone.

“And don’t you mean ‘Guan The Giant Piece of Shit’?” Asami asked, not wasting the chance to insult the bastard who brainwashed her to go against her fiancé. “THANKFULLY, he’s not involved.”

Master Tenzin was running out of possible names, now drawing from the bottom of the barrel. “Unalaq of the Northern Water Clan, who tried to become the Unholy Avatar Knight?”

“Who _the fuck_ is that twat?” Thuy asked her friends, having never met him before as Sami sighed, looking at her.

“Long story, but no…” The Shadowbender said before turning back to Tenzin, approaching him as she unbuttoned her coat pocket and took out what Korra and Asami noticed was a crumpled up photo. “It’s my wife…”

Handing the photo to Master Tenzin, he saw it was of both Sami and her Korra posing for a wedding photo, Sami wearing an elegant white and red lace wedding dress with a veil on her head while Korra was clad in her own Water Tribe themed wedding dress.

“In my universe, Korra ended up the host of a shadow spirit, or “Shadow Demon” as you guys call it, falling under his influence.” Sami explained, still feeling sadness in her heart at what happened later due to what Guan did to her and Korra’s unborn child.

Not wanting to get misty eyed, she looked back at the Master Air Monk as he handed her back the photo. “The Spirit, Sha-Garou, is one this universe has dealt with before, but is now trying to fully take over my wife, the Avatar, by energybending other versions of her, killing them in the process.” She explained, putting on a face of bravery. “I’ve lost many friends and family in my universe because of what he did to her, I don’t want to lose Korra for good, I don’t want to see any more universes suffer because of Sha-Garou.”

Master Tenzin listened with compassion to the words coming out of the girl’s mouth, feeling terrible for her, as did his sister and the other four who had heard the story before.

“What guidance can I bequeath to you and your allies?” He asked in an assuring tone to Sami’s happiness as Korra stood next to him.

“It’s possible to energybend him out of dark me, but he’s probably become too strong, he won’t go without a fight. Do you know of any other way to separate him from her?” She asked to which the wise Master Air Monk tried to think of anything he learnt from the previous experience the Avatar Knight and others learned, tugging at his beard in thought.

But try as he might, nothing seemed to come up in the man’s mind as he gave a sigh of regret.

“Sadly, I'm afraid I have no knowledge, other than what we, and I assume your group. already know.”

The crew felt an air of disappointment ring hollow in the room.

“... well… that sucks.” One-Arm Kya simply said before Master Tenzin remembered someone to try asking.

“Have you consulted the shadow demon known as Khu-Shui?”

“ _Trust me, if I knew of a different way to get Sha-Garou out of the girl, we wouldn’t be here. And why am I always being referred to as a ‘Shadow Demon’?_ ” Khu-Shui’s voice echoed out of Sami’s mouth as she took control briefly to both Master Tenzin and Kya The Water Priestess’s amazement before she let Sami take back control.

The shadowbender realized how this looked to them and shrugged with an awkward chuckle. “Heheh… Sorry, I forgot to mention that I’m _HER_ host.”

“Amazing...” Tenzin said, in awe at actually communicating with a Shadow Spirit, one that actually looked to help out humans instead of trying to steal their bodies, if briefly. The spirits he was used to communicating with alongside his daughter and brother were far less lethal.

But then the perfect idea came to mind.

“The Fire Sanctuary Temple.” He said, moving over to a desk where a scroll was, grabbing and unrolling it onto the floor, showing a map of the world.

“What’s that, like a Fire Nation themed version of this temple?” Opal asked as she got a look at the map.

“You are correct, young Wind Mage.” Master Tenzin answered, looking for a certain area near where Republic Gate’s was on the map as Opal looked at her fiancé and uncle, both shrugging at the title. “AH-HA, yes!” He then looked at the others, an idea coming to mind. “Right here, this is where it resides. Why didn’t think of it any sooner?”

“What resides here?” Lin asked as Tenzin turned to her.

“The Fire Sanctuary Temple is the home of the Fire Nuns. A sect of female warrior protectors who has guarded it for thousands of years, they’re said to be an offshoot of the Sun Warriors civilization, having been founded by one of their members, Hiromi, the fifth Avatar Knight.”

“Sounds like Avatar Kyoshi when she founded the Kyoshi Warriors.” Kya made note of the similarities, something she was not alone in thinking.

Tenzin nodded. “While it’s not officially documented, it is rumored that Kyoshi did take some inspiration from the Fire Nuns.” He pointed out before Thuy leaned in closer in front of him to look at the map

“Yeah, I remember learning about these broads, or at least those from me and the other’s universe.” She explained as memories of learning about them when she was younger came to mind, her words getting quicker as she kept talking.

“Apparently they were WAY MORE secretive than the fuckin’ Sun Warriors themselves. They are also said to even have the oldest library in the entire world, as old as the lost Wan Shi Tong Library in the Si Wong Desert. If not more!”

Once she finished her gushing that’d make even Ikki ask her to take a deep breath, Thuy took notice of the others looking at her, almost all of them surprised to see her be into the subject this much, including Mako who never pegged her as a bookworm.

“WOW, how’d you know all that Thuy?”

The Metalbender felt embarrassed, rubbing the back of her head with a small laugh and smile. “Heheh, my Grandma worked at a library, me and my mum spent a lot time there when I was younger, Guess all that reading stuck on me.”

“Refreshing to hear history be kept in young people’s minds.” Tenzin said in approval of the metalbender’s knowledge of the subject before looking at the others. “If anyone today has books or scrolls on Shadow Spirits still in possession, it would be them.”

“ _Makes sense a bunch of old crones would know about my kind…_ ” Khu-Shui noted as she once more took control of Sami, looking at Master Tenzin. “ _How long would the trip take?_ ”

“At least two days on foot.” He answered as both Bolin’s jaw’s dropped hearing this.

“TWO DAYS?!” Both said at the same time before Bolin himself looked at his warhammer wielding self, mainly his jawline, pointing it out.

“Man, even his j _awline_ is perfect!”

“BUT, if you rode by Sky-Bison, it’d only take up half the time.” Kya The Water Priestess pointed out as her brother nodded.

“Yes, that’d be both quicker and safer travel.” He agreed.

“Okay, so guess we’re headed towards the Fire Sanctuary Temple.” Korra said as everyone agreed.

“Master Air Monk Tenzin, we thank you for your help.” Lady Asami said, happy to see there was a chance of defeating this evil demon, spirit, whatever that posed threat to her lover, who too nodded.

“You never seek to disappoint.”

“It is my pleasure Korra of The Southern Water Clan, Lady Asami.” The Master said, bowing to his pupil and her lover. He then raised his head up, looking at the other Korra, her friends and the others. “If I’d make a suggestion, it’d be best to travel during the daytime, so you all are welcome to stay the night in the temple.”

“Are you sure? Take no offense to my words here…” Mako of The Fire and Lightning began. “But if this Dark Korra as she’s called is seeking our Korra, shouldn’t we be leaving now?”

“Kid’s got a point, she could be on her way here at this very second.” Lin agreed as One-Arm Kya looked at Sami, who had been given control back from Khu-Shui

“Do you sense her?”

“I… I’m not sure.” The shadowbender said in a confused manner, she did feel Dark Korra’s energy, but… “I mean, I sense something… but it’s not her usual energy.”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask..." Hattori began, a bit curious himself about their ally from another universe. "... How _do_ you know when she’s coming?”

Sami put her hand on her shoulder where her scars began. “Ever since I merged with Khu-Shui when she saved my life, I have been able to sense Sha-Garou’s shadows poisoning my Korra’s energy. It helps me track her anywhere in an universe.”

“Which means by that logic they know where you, and by extension, us are!” Bolin The Magma Warrior pointed out, which they hadn’t taken into account, yet Sami was shaking her head.

“Well, yes, but… something’s _wrong_!” She herself pointed out, trying to explain it. “I… don’t feel the evil energy as much as I used to, like… part of it went away. I don’t know, I’m still getting used to all this talk about spirits… _Korra knew more about them than I did_ …” She said with a low tone before feeling a metal gloved hand on her arm

“It’s okay.” Lady Asami said, trying to comfort one of the two alternative forms of her with that kind smile on Sato women like them and Asami could provide. “If the enemy does come, even as we sleep, we will all fight until the last breath.”

For such brief words used to motivate, it seemed to have a positive effect on everyone in the room, who all agreed to fight alongside each other against this looming threat.

“She is so wiser than all of us.” Korra said to her warrior self who nodded back.

“One of the many reasons I asked her hand in marriage.” Korra of The Southern Water Clan said, thinking things over. “Even during my darkest hour, when I tried to run away from my problems after Zaheer, her eyes like jade, her lips like the red of an apple, Lady Asami’s face was what kept me somewhat balanced.”

The Avatar herself remembered those long years, first trying to rehabilitate her body, then her mind, which was so much harder by comparison. But she agreed with her other self, even during the worst moments in her life, the face of the woman who she’d later finally kiss in the Spirit World was one of the few things keeping her going at the time.

“Not the same exact phrasing of words, but I agree completely.” Korra said in agreement before asking the warrior a question that’s been on her mind, leaning close to whisper in her ear. “Curious question, what’s up with her ears?”

“Lady Asami’s from a family of elves.” Her other self answered, smiling at the memory of how her Asami loves it when she touches her ears in bed. “Very skilled in combat, very beautiful on the eyes.”

\-------------

Dark Korra reappeared from the shadows, looking behind her. The guards were oblivious as she snuck over the shrouded walls, now inside the city. She studied the roads in front of her as they contorted around dimly lit establishments of all sorts. She frowned as she walked past them, finding that every building she remembered from her own universe had been replaced with something outlandish.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the colorful bottles arranged behind the glass of one shop window, the faint lantern lighting up their bubbling contents perfectly. 

"Hey! Begone! We're closed!" 

She jumped as a voice yelled out at her, not realizing how long she had been staring at the potions. A stout man in a thick cloak appeared next to her, a ring of keys rattling in his hand. He appeared to be the shop owner. 

"Sorry," Dark Korra muttered, carrying on down the street. Though the city was so different, the layout must have been similar and she vaguely figured out the way to Air Temple Island. 

" _Stop getting distracted by everything..._ " Sha-Garou berated her. " _First the family, now this. We won't get anywhere at this rate._ "

She couldn't understand why she was so frustrated with the voice in her head tonight. It angered her and sounded almost like static in her thoughts. "This is my goal, becoming the ultimate Avatar, not yours." she said finally. "I'll do it as I please."

She could feel Sha-Garou almost snarl at that. " _I'M the one making it possible. Get. Moving._ "

It was strange for tensions to be rising like this, but she ignored him as she kept going. 

She could just about see the edge of the water as they were nearing the other walls of the city. Situated close to the rear gate were the stables, and two stablemen walked past her. She stayed hidden in the shadows, unsure whether the Avatar could be nearby and in doing so caught a snippet of the conversation the two men were having.

"Spent two days brushing that big beast, and now they've gone and taken it and TWO OTHERS flying somewhere again!" the shorter of the two said. "The hangar was full of that damn fur."

"That's nothing. The other day I had to clean its feet."

" _What are they talking about?_ " Sha-Garou said. " _They better not be talking about what I think they’re are..._ ”

"It's nothing," Dark Korra whispered back.

" _Follow them._ "

"I'm not worried about some dumb stable boys."

" _DO AS I SAY!_ " 

The Dark Avatar's face contorted in anger as the two men walked away. She dipped into the shadows, moving quietly along the edge of the buildings where the darkness was thickest. 

"Every time a sky-bison comes back from some Avatar Knight mission, it's murky and mangy!" the shorter man lamented. "I just want a raise man, it's all I be saying!"

Dark Korra frowned. Maybe Sha-Garou had been right. 

"At least they're off to the Fire Sanctuary Temple. I hear it's dry around there, they won't get any mud in their fur like last time in the swamp."

"Spirits, I hope so."

With that she saw them head into the stables, carrying a few reins and stirrups with them. 

" _I told you..._ " Sha-Garou's voice was low and furious. " _You nearly cost us everything._ "

"I didn't cost us shit. We'd have found them anyway." Dark Korra stood up from the shadows, trying to figure out a way to get to the so-called Fire Sanctuary too, still sensing Asami’s energy. 

" _We missed them because of you._ " the spirit carried on and Korra rolled her eyes. 

"So what?"

" _SO?!_ " He yelled, before taking a moment to try and calm down. " _You're blowing it Korra. You're going soft._ "

"I'm not going soft."

" _You missed your chance and now you have to travel across the land. How are you gonna keep a low profile doing that? The last thing you want is another horde of fire nation soldiers coming after you like last time. And it’s obvious that people WILL know who you are after a while!_ "

She stared at the stable doors as Sha-Garou kept going on in her head. She was trying to ignore him, until he struck her last nerve.

" _You shouldn't have helped that stupid family..._ "

Her blood boiled. "How could you say that?" In the quiet of the night she couldn't yell like she wanted to, so she strained her voice to keep it from getting louder. "You saw what those creatures were doing, and _you_ weren't against me stopping them while I was in the midst of it!"

The spirit filled her thoughts with an atrocious guttural voice. " _The principle stands. You got distracted from your main goal. It doesn't matter what I let you or didn't let you do._ " He could feel her anger rising too, but he knew there was nothing she could do about it. " _Next thing you know, you'll go running back to your bitch of a traitorous wife like a lost Polar Bear puppy!_ " he spoke with bitterness in his voice. 

Dark Korra clenched her fist, feeling her blood go to her face. It burned and burned, and he knew he struck the deepest nerve she had. She could almost feel him grin. 

" _Now you'll do as I say, and nothing like that will ha-_ "

"Don't talk to me like that," she spat. "Don't mention her like that."

" _Or what? You don't seem to understand our little arrangement here. I'm the source of your power. Without me, you are nothing and you'll go back to being a sad and hilariously angry Avatar with no choice but to pity herself for every mistake she’s made._ "

Korra could feel a ball of fire gathering in her throat, but she found she had nothing to say anymore. She wanted to grab the spirit and strangle him, but she couldn't. 

" _Now go in that stable and steal an ostrich horse. We'll use it to catch up to the Avatar._ "

She bit back her angry remarks. "The stable is lit up. There's workers still in there. We have to wait."

" _No. You'll do it now._ " He commanded, as if to test the obedience he spoke into the Avatar.

"We need to wait."

Without warning, she felt a tingling sensation in her muscles. Her arms ached as she fought to keep them still. _Sha-Garou was trying to take control of her body_ , but she wasn't letting him. 

"Quit it!" 

The spirit said nothing. There was no need to. She knew what he was trying to do - he was trying to prove who was really in control, who truly owned her body, but she knew the answer wasn't him. It was never him. He couldn't be strong enough to control an Avatar if she resisted with all her might.

Every inch of her ached as she fought, her limbs shaking with the struggle. One leg moved her forward and she grunted to stop it. She pulled back on her own muscles as he was forcing her to take the next step. In a painful, almost puppet like way, she took another step and another and finally another. 

She panted, eyes wide. She wasn't in control anymore. Sha-Garou was making her raid the stable. 

As he brought them to the gates, she saw the two stableboys. They froze as they saw her, holding up piles of hay. She had no choice as she realized the shadow claw forming over her hand, it’s sharp fingers extending. 

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, before Sha-Garou forced her to dashed forward through the shadows, quickly, and silently. 

_The two men had no time to scream._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this, a new chapter a day early?... eh, why not, right? So yes, our crew are in a brand new universe, more of a medieval/Dungeons and Dragons inspired verse! Me and Coniine had fun coming up with the classes of sorts to make the crew out to be, personal favorite of mine being actually Mako as the rouge type, which works perfectly for him.
> 
> So with Master Air Monk Tenzin's help, our heroes know of a place where to find some info on shadow spirits, and it looks like Dark Korra's relationship with Sha-Garou is starting to falter. Speaking of Dark Korra, cause you're thinking so, YES, her little subplot with the family and saving them from those certain creatures IS indeed our reference to "Goblin Slayer". Now, I personally don't care for the series, nor the Isekai sub-genre as a whole, but we wanted to have a moment where the old Alt. Korra broke through against Sha-Garou's wishes and realizing there's other worse things out there... well, who doesn't wanna see a shadowbending Korra murdering some evil goblins a'la GS?
> 
> Anyway, next chapter is where things get even more interesting as we'll get some more reveals, meet these "Fire Nuns" and... well, let's just say their leader was SO FUN to write, but... OH, why ruin the surprise.
> 
> BTW, first one who spots the "X-Men: Apocalypse" reference gets a little hint towards what's planned for future chapters!


	11. Chapter Ten- The Fire Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to mental issues, PTSD and a brief reference to suicide. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

It had been nice to travel by Sky-Bison, after all the traveling by foot, ships, interdimensional transportation, it just felt good to relax, sit and lay down as the cool air breezed by.

All the other times the crew tried to relax, they knew time was limited before Dark Korra would inevitably arrive and cause more destruction. But having already been flying for two hours, with another who knows how many to go before they reach the Fire Sanctuary Temple, they all felt the gap in time between them and their possessed foe would be a benefit in the long run.

The three Sky-Bisons flew side by side, each animal carrying at least five people on their backs as they rode on their saddles.

Master Air Monk Tenzin, having always wanted to see the fabled Fire Sanctuary, volunteered to lead the way, holding the reins of Oogi, the sky-bison he controlled and favored.

Riding with him were Korra and Asami, who decided to sit against the side of the saddles, as they both needed at least some hours of sleep, holding each other's hands with Korra’s head drooped over onto her fiance's shoulders.

Also along with them were Sami and One-Arm Kya, the latter of whom saw the former watch the couple sleep, seeing in the shadowbender’s eyes that she wished that she could still do the same with her Korra and the child they lost.

“Hey, kid…” The bloodbender said, putting her hand onto Sami’s shoulder, getting her attention. “I never got to tell you this a while ago, but… I am truly sorry for you and... your Korra's loss. I can’t imagine the pain you both have endured.”

The older woman understood that both had experienced different sides of losing a child, having never experiencing the tragic event how they did. But watching her own daughter, whom she never got to tell the truth about her birth, have her life taken away before her very own eyes…

This Kya had a close enough feeling to what Sami felt.

“Thank you.“ Sami began, remembering One-Arm Kya’s own story of how she gave birth to her Korra. “I too am sorry we couldn’t save your daughter.”

The bloodbender put on a smirk, leaning her forehead against Sami’s as she closed her eyes. “Thanks… At least like her old woman, she didn’t go out without a fight.”

That earned a small amused smile out of the shadowbender, the two sharing a brief but needed bonding moment.

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“I apologize for interrupting…” Master Tenzin’s voice rang out, getting the two’s attention. “But I couldn't help but hear that you... had a daughter Kya?” He asked, trying to approach the topic as delicately as he could.

“I had one, yes.” One-Arm Kya confirmed.

Master Tenzin lowered his head as he closed his eyes. “We may not be the same siblings, but I’m sorry for your loss too.” The Master Air Monk said, choosing respectfully not to question how this came to be, or how she lost her. “I’m sure she was a wonderful daughter.”

“OH, _trust me_ , you would have loved her. In fact, you’d be surprised to find out who she grew up to be.” The bloodbender said, getting a bit of a cheeky smile on her face.

“Well, you have me curious, who did she become?” Master Tenzin asked, wanting to know about the niece from another universe he never met.

At that question, One-Arm Kya quickly looked at Sami, a rather playful look in her eyes. “Should I tell him?” She asked in a teasing tone, only to get a similar smile from Sami.

“Have at it.”

On the second bison, flown by Korra of The Southern Water Clan with Lady Asami sitting at her side, Bolin and Opal were already spouting off what ideas for their wedding they could come up with, already deciding it would be held in Zaofu.

“OH, yeah, your family makes some of the best food! Second place next to Pema’s cooking, but it’s close” Bolin noted, remembering what dishes of yummy food he had at Opal’s home.

“Plus, considering most of my family lives there, they don’t have to travel far. I hope your grandma and your uncle’s family could make it without any issues.” Opal said as her fiance shrugged.

“Eh, it shouldn't be an issue.” Bolin shrugged off, not seeing it an issue until a big idea popped out of his mind with a smile as big. “OH, OHH, idea, chocolate fountain!” 

Opal’s eyes went wide at the idea. “I. _LOVE._ IT.” She said, a hushed glee in her voice as she looked at her ring, still amazed she was going to be married before turning to Hattori, who had decided to lay on his back, looking up at the sky.

“And Uncle Hattori, as a Beifong, you’re invited of course.”

“While that is a lovely offer, you do remember that I’m not from your universe.” The Chief from another universe noted, leaning his head up to look at the niece of his from the Prime Universe.

He was about to speak more when suddenly a loud “ _WHAT?!?_ ” rang out from where Tenzin was leading the charge, bit thrown off by the sudden voice increase. “Oh spirits, what did One-Arm just say?...” He muttered to himself before looking at the couple. “Also, from what you two and your crew said, I’m DEAD in your universe, remember?”

A look of sad forgetfulness then clouded the young airbender’s face, turning away from the metalbender as a knowing Bolin tried to hold her hands. “Oh, you’re right… sorry I asked.”

Opal had forgotten that this wasn’t the same Hattori Hanzo, or Hattori Beifong wasn’t from her universe, the one she knew she barely got to know before his death. She remembered expressing the want to know him better at his funeral and even tried to look up his life before the first time he died.

Being reminded of her uncle’s death, by another version of him nonetheless, put Opal in a bit of a dire mood.

Something that the metalbender had already realized as he saw Bolin try comforting her. “Hey, it’s okay, we were all caught up with recent events, it’s easy to forget.” he tried assuring his love.

Even if this Opal wasn’t the same one Hattori knew from his universe, he still felt instant regret for using the words he said. Especially since he had a close relationship with his niece in his universe.

“BUT… um, Opal…” Hattori began, trying to find the proper words as she saw Opal look back at him curiously. “If you don’t mind me speaking for my other self, your uncle, I’m sure that if he were still alive, or even in spirit form, he would accept the invitation without hesitation.”

Hearing those words and seeing this Hattori attempt to make her feel better did lessen the pain the airbender felt, giving a kind smile to him.

“Thank you.”

The metalbender gave one back to her before something came to mind for their wedding. “Also, make sure there’s an open bar, because you can’t have a wedding without one.” He said, sitting up to look at them better. “Sometimes they’re so much better with them, like at Tarkik and Riaan’s wedding-”

“Alcohol isn’t allowed in our Zaofu, it’s a dry city-state.” Opal interrupted to Hattori’s surprise as he blinked his mismatched eyes.

“What, seriously?”

“Since when?” Bolin asked his love as that was news to him before both him and Hattori saw Opal giving a giggle at their reactions.

“I’m kidding. That’s a wonderful idea Uncle Hattori.” She said, messing with the two who couldn’t help but laugh at the joke before the happy couple, along with the Chief, began throwing other ideas for the wedding

On the last bison was Mako The Fire and Lightning at the reins, focusing on the quest at hand as it was mostly quiet with his other self and Thuy were asleep in each other's arms, as were Lin and Kya.

Then a loud snore rang out as the archer turned his head and saw Bolin The Magma Warrior also asleep, but snoring loudly, while also talking in his sleep.

“Opal The Wind Mage… you lift me… up…” The barbarian droned out before letting out another snore as his brother turned back around to seeing where he was headed, sighing.

Well, it _was_ mostly quiet.

After some more time, and a break or two to use the little benders room, the three bison and those on them finally landed at their destination.

“Here we are, this is the place.” Tenzin said, coming down carefully off of Oogi, petting it and telling the sky-bison to stay with its own kind.

“Huh, must admit, this is quite the spiffy looking place they got here.” Lin admitted as she got down, both and the other travelers were in awe of the area near the ocean, seeing the Fire Sanctuary Temple up on a cliffside looking over the ocean, it’s old stone structure looking to have been untouched in years, aside from some moss growing on it.

Miles and miles away from any sign of civilization, the area was quiet, all except the sounds of the trees ruffling and the waves crashing against the cliff.

In front of the temple was a large statue of a female clad in what looked like a robe, wearing on her head an odd shaped hat that wrapped around her head, only leaving her face uncovered as she held a large sword in her hands, it’s stone blade pointing down, on the hilt was the symbols of the four elements.

“Woah..." Bolin The Magma Warrior said in surprise, curious. "Who's the big lady?” He asked as the large group approached the statue, looking at how perfect and precise the likeness of the statue was.

“That is Avatar Knight Hiromi, the founder of the Fire Nuns.” Tenzin answered as both Korra and her warrior self approached the statue, touching the stone blade at the same time.

Both women had previously lost the ability to communicate with the past Avatar’s before them, especially one going back as far as Hiromi. Yet both felt like they were meeting her for the first time, giving a silent bow of respect to their past life.

As this went on, something about the statue got Kya’s attention as she tried nudging the armor of her lover, whispering. “Hey, Lin… are you two seeing what i’m seeing?” Kya whispered back to the female Chief, who looked at what the healer was staring at, Hiromi’s face.

“This world’s version of a past Avatar, big deal.” Lin responded back as Kya shook her head, trying to adjust her eyes.

“I know my eyes aren’t what they used to be, but we’ve seen that face before.”

That got Lin’s attention as she turned to her partner.

“Really? Where? Because no offense, but I think I’d remember a face.” She said as Kya looked in a direction on their side.

“Yes, and it’s been staring at us this whole time and we didn’t even know it.”

But before the metalbender could see what the healer was looking at, something was heard brushing up against the leaf's in the trees behind them, getting everyone’s attention.

“Oh shite, is it Dark Korra?!” Thuy asked, preparing her metal stings in hand as everyone got in defensive position, with those from this universe preparing their weapons, including Tenzin who had his staff ready

But Sami’s eyes, which had turned red as she formed up a shadow tentacle, stopped, dimming them before she looked at the others. “No, it’s not her.”

More sounds came from the trees, coming from different directions as the creaks of old door handles moving were also heard and grass being stepped on. Yet it wasn't known who or what was making those sounds.

“Then who is it?” Lady Asami asked her other self, her shield and sword in hand as Korra of The Southern Water Clan brought out her axes.

Before Sami could answer, another voice behind them halted them.

“LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!”

The voice was clearly female, aged, but not broken as the travelers all turned, seeing an older light skinned woman in attire similar to what the statue of Hiromi had on in brown and red colors, except for the odd hat, which was dark brown and white. Her dark gold eyes looked to have seen so many things over the years.

“This land is private, no trespassers allowed. Or else you’ll be forced to leave, by any means necessary.”

“Wait, are you a Fire Nun?” Korra asked, thinking it was best to lower her arms as she approached the woman whose steely eyes barely moved an inch.

“That depends, who are you?”

“I… I’m Avatar Korra.”

The woman shook her head. “No you’re not, she is.” She noted with a point of her finger towards the other Korra. “And the title is Avatar Knight. Even then, why are you all here? We don’t interfere with the business of outsiders, we expect them to do the same.”

“We come seeking knowledge only the library your order protects could provide.” Korra of The Southern Water Clan said, putting her weapons away, moving to her other selves side.

“Look Ms. Fire Nun, as much as it’s nice talking out here, we’re kind of in-” Hattori began stepping forward with his hook and chain in hand, only to suddenly drop down in place after feeling a chi point on his leg be hit before a set of hands grabbed him in place. “AH! FUCK!”

The Chief from another universe saw that said hands belonged not to someone not as old as the woman, but younger hands, with one holding him by the back of his hair and the other holding what looked like a knife made of fire in the other to his neck.

Everyone saw the culprit was a young woman in the same robe as the old woman, with only her face showing her age and light skin tone, a look of burning fury in her grey eyes at the metalbender.

“You will speak only to Fire Sister Doremi when she wills it!” The young Fire Nun said as Hattori held up his hands, letting his weapons drop as he spoke in a surprisingly timid voice, not wanting to provoke her.

“M-M-Message received.”

“We’re sorry to intrude on your land Fire Sister Doremi, but this is a vital matter where time is limited!” Tenzin insisted just as another Fire Nun blocked his path, but he gave a deep breath, a little caught off guard by this warrior holding up her own fire knife up to his throat. But he chose to keep talking regardless. “The fate of the multiple universes hangs in the balance.”

“What do you mean Master Air Monk?” The old woman who seemed to lead the Fire Nuns said, her own curiosity starting to rise. “Clearly you all traveled quite a distance to get here, do explain-”

“FIRE SISTER!” The Fire Nun in front of Tenzin yelled out, her attention no longer on him, but towards Thuy who looked back, wondering why she was being singled out.

“Ahh… hi?” The metalbender asked before the Fire Nun approached her, making the fire knife vanish, looking at her face all over before saying a name.

“ _Hiromi_ …” 

“Wha-What? Hiromi? No, my name is Thuy, that’s-” Thuy tried saying before pointing at the statue, only being stopped when she saw the Fire Nun rush over to Fire Sister Doremi like a bolt of lightning, pointing at her as everyone turned at their ally who had no idea what was going on.

“It’s her, she’s… I think she may be...!”

Hearing this, the Fire Sister herself then approached Thuy as quickly as the young girl, even for her old age, looking deep into the metalbender’s confused lime green eyes before looking all around as a rather surprising smile formed on her face.

“Lower your guard and let them through, FOR ALONGSIDE AVATAR KNIGHT HIROMI’S LATER LIVES, HER _DESCENDANT_ HAS GRACED US WITH HER PRESENCE!”

With those words said, all the travelers began hearing different female voices chanting out the name of the former Avatar Knight before they saw all around them a large group of Fire Nuns approach them as Hattori was let go by the one that had held him at fire knight point.

Each of the women looked to be from different parts of the world, all seeming to be doing some odd hand pose as they stood in place.

“Okay, this is weird.” Lady Asami muttered out at the sight as Mako looked at his girlfriend.

“Thuy, please tell me you know what’s going on.” He asked, only for the metalbender to shake her head, not able to put together any words in her mouth.

Trying to grasp what was going on, both Korra and Korra of The Southern Water Clan looked up at the statue of their former life, then at the poor girl they knew, both sharing the same face.

“Seems your friend, and I assume her doppelganger here, shares the same bloodline as our past life.” The Warrior woman realized as did Korra.

* * *

It was silent since the night before, neither Dark Korra nor Sha-Garou spoke a word after what transpired in those stables.

As the fallen Avatar rode the ostrich horse down the grassy hill, following her Asami's energy, her thoughts went back to those two stablemen she was forced to kill.

She had no intention of killing them, not a single bit.

But that damn shadow spirit wouldn't take no for an answer and forced her to slay the two.

Dark Korra already knew about him controlling her body back in that animal people universe, but she had been knocked out. That she understood just fine, she was fine with that.

But Sha-Garou took away control of her own body while she was fully aware of what he was forcing her to do.

Making her watch as he made her hands shred those guys apart before they were even able to scream.

Dark Korra felt a horrible feeling, unable to do anything to stop what Sha-Garou wanted to do with her body.

It was Zaheer and the Red Lotus all over again.

 _"You should be careful when we arrive at the sanctuary…_ "

 _Now_ he wanted to talk, after what he did to her?!

" _If these protectors of the temple are anything like The Fire Nuns of the Fire Blossoms Sanctuary from our universe, you may run into some issues._ "

The shadowbender had to stop her steed, closing her eyes as she felt her fire rise up once more.

"NEVER AGAIN…"

" _Pardon?_ "

"What you did back there in those stables. You controlling my body, forcing me to watch you kill..." She opened her eyes again. "You are to NEVER! TO DO THAT AGAIN!" Dark Korra yelled out, venting out her hate and anger at the Shadow Spirit she was host to.

" _I really don't think you have any-_ "

" _NO!_ " She interrupted, having it with the spirit. "I accepted your terms, I've accepted your idea to be the ultimate Avatar, to take from others like me, I…"

The fallen Avatar wanted to say that she accepted having to murder those close to her…

… having to hurt Asami.

But she couldn't.

"I… _did what I did_ to my friends and allies." She continued before shaking her head. "But I will NEVER condone you taking advantage of my body. When you did it, I felt…"

The memories of the mercury forced into her bare body by the Red Lotus to put her into the Avatar State flashed into her mind, along with what she had to endure for those three years to recover from the trauma.

She felt that helpless when Sha-Garou used her body.

"... I felt _violated_." Dark Korra let out, just finally getting it all out with a grim look on her face.

"I don't care how powerful you are, you ever even think of taking control of my body again without my consent, and I promise you, I _will_ end things between us."

She awaited a response from Sha-Garou, only hearing the spirit seemingly take deep breaths.

" _... Will you do it? Just end it all right there and then. Because I don't think you have the guts..._ "

Hearing that, the evil Avatar looked up at the sun, a look of unflinching stoicism on her face.

"You're the shadow spirit who can see into my mind, you tell me."

This piqued the evil spirit's attention, doing what she dared him to do.

_Sha-Garou didn't like the answer._

" _Right…_ shall we keep going?"

Dark Korra heard his words, the slight inflection as he said the first word, before seeming to turn the focus back to where Khu-Shui's shadows laid within Asami's spirit.

For the briefest of seconds, Sha-Garou _was scared_ of not being in control and Dark Korra knew it as she gave a smug smile as she resumed her quest.

"Let’s…"

* * *

The fire sister led them inside the sanctuary as the crew stared up at the high, ornate ceilings. They seemed to curve away from them, lined with delicate carvings and golden linings. 

The women of the temple gushed over Thuy for a few more moments, obviously excited to be meeting a descendent of Hiromi. They tried asking her about her family, but it was obvious the girl didn't know what they wanted to hear, nor wanted to share the details of her parents deaths. She had never even thought she would be distantly related to an Avatar, to the nuns' disappointment. 

Fortunately, Thuy did mean they treated the crew with hospitality and they brought them into what they called their Fire Chamber.

"You will meet the Fire Mother..." Fire Sister Doremi said. "She will decree how we might help you."

The crew gulped. After the unease introduction to the nuns, they could only imagine what the Fire Mother would be like. They weren't far from expecting to be cooked like rotisserie chicken mice. 

They opened the grand doors to the Fire Chamber. The massive decorated wood opened slowly, revealing the large central hall where they held their meetings and prayers. The sides were lined with lecterns of fire scrolls and prayer books, and prayer mats were set up along the floor at the far end. In the center of the room was the most impressive piece - an iron statue of a dragon, with thin trickles of incense smoke coming out of its nostrils. 

Standing with her back turned to the crew and studying one of the books splayed out on one of the lecterns was an older woman in a long red and gold robe, her long grey held up in a bun on top of her head. 

"Fire Mother..." one of the nuns stepped forward, addressing the woman. "We have visitors. They seek our guidance."

"There's nothing here that could be of use to them." Her fingers traced the words on the worn pages of the book she was reading. "We're a spiritual sanctuary, not an oracle."

"Well, spirituality is kind of what we're looking for," Korra said, "your... err... your motherness?" 

The Fire Mother was not impressed by that in the slightest. Without even turning around, she waved her hand. "Take them back out."

"This one is a descendent of Avatar Knight Hiromi, Fire Mother." Fire Sister Doremi stepped forward, leading Thuy with her. 

At that the woman hesitated for a slight moment, before slowly turning around. 

The eyes of each of the adults in the crew widened. They hadn't seen this woman in what seemed like ages. She had been gone for such a long time in each of their universes, the other crew members were too young to have even met her before.

" _Azula?_ " Master Tenzin said, his voice a mere whisper in shock. 

“No way…” Korra of The Southern Water Clan whispered back in equal shock, having heard stories about the wicked former Fire Princess of The House of Ozai before it was renamed as The House of Zuko. The mortal woman who almost ended the Avatar Knight lineage. “I thought she was dead?"

"Welcome to the club." Lin whispered back.

The Fire Mother sighed. "Yes. Hello, Tenzin and-" She frowned, looking at the younger members of the crew and the other adults. There was something strange going on. "And the rest of you." She took a moment. "I think you have some explaining to do."

Sami stepped forward. She knew the drill. "I can explain everything, but what we were looking for is something on shadow spirits. Let's say, if one were to corrupt an Avatar, how might we defeat it?" 

Azula raised her eyebrows. "That's... the last thing I expected. But I think we may have something on the topic." She closed the book she was looking at before turning back towards the crew. "Follow me to the library. We'll find what you're looking for, and you can explain things on the way."

"I'd say the same thing about you," Master Tenzin said. "I'd have never thought you would be here after all this time."

Azula smiled. The glaring look in her eyes never faded with age, but at least this time she seemed less evil and more playful. "World's full of surprises, Master Air Monk." She walked across the room, heading towards a door on the West side of the grand hall. "Follow me, and we'll talk more."

Hattori looked at the Fire Mother with skepticism. "Yeah, you guys go ahead with her without me." He eyed the comfortable looking prayer mats. "I need to rest for a moment."

One Arm Kya had to agree. "Me too."

Everyone else didn't seem to mind, and they followed Azula and a couple of the nuns through the doors and down the corridor, while the Chief and the bloodbender stayed behind. 

"I'm getting old for this," One Arm Kya joked. " _Multiverse this_ and _shadow spirits that_."

Hattori chuckled. "Right? Give me a break."

They rolled their eyes together. It almost felt like they were back in their world, neck deep in some police investigation, but even then there would be moments where they would take some time to relax. They did make a great team after all, nothing was out of their reach in Republic City. 

"We have rooms for you to rest in." One of the nuns walked up to them. Her dark eyes gleamed in the light of the great hall. 

Hattori raised his eyebrows. “Oh great spirit of Yue, that would be great." He nudged Kya with his elbow. "They've got something for us oldies."

The bloodbender pushed his arm away. "I call dibs if there's only one. And you're like a year older than me."

"Hey!"

The nun smiled. "There is not just one room with beds."

"I'm not complaining, he snores." The one armed bender snarked to the man with the mismatched eye's annoyance.

"That was _one_ time when we were undercover!"

They followed the fire nun and a few others back the way they came as they took them down a different corridor. The Sanctuary seemed enormous, so it was no surprise that they would have room to accommodate people besides the women that already lived there. 

"Your temple is really beautiful." Hattori said, trying to strike up some conversation. "Do you have a lot of visitors round here?"

"No..." the nun replied. "But it's nice when we do."

Kya scoffed. "Didn't seem like it at first."

"There are things we need to protect ourselves against." The Fire Nun, who looked to be from the Earth Kingdom from her tanned skin, noted to which Hattori gave a bit of the famous Beifong snort.

"Explains the pleasant welcome."

"I do apologize for Fire Nun Jun, she is quick to violence." 

"Eh, no big deal, I've had worse things shoved into my face." The chief waved off.

"PLUS, since you're not a threat to us," The Fire Nun turned round at the two of them, a smirk on her lips. "There's no reason we shouldn't welcome you."

The bloodbender looked across at the Chief. _Something_ was off. She didn't sense anything wrong about the women's energy around them, but the way the nun was talking seemed strange.

Hattori on the other hand didn't seem to have a problem with it after clearing things up. If anything, she saw a slight smile lingering on the corner of his mouth too. 

* * *

They all perused the shelves of their impressive library. The columns of books stretched far above their heads and climbed up and down ladders to reach the top ones. The Fire Mother had an astonishing collection, dating back to some of the first books ever written in this universe. 

After having explained the situation of what Dark Korra and Sha-Garou had been doing to Azula, along with revealing they were gathering an army among the universe to end the spirit, it was now the Fire Mother's turn to talk about how she came to the Sanctuary. 

"It was some time after posing as a Kemurikage," Azula started saying. She ran her hand along the edges of the books, still looking for something to help the crew as she was telling the story. "I had done some questionable things, some I won't apologize for, but the one that came to bite me in the rear was that."

Korra was up on the ladder, passing a couple books down to Asami below her. The engineer skimmed through them, but they were unfortunately useless thus far. 

"Posing as a spirit seemed like a good idea, especially to bother ol’ Zuzu into maybe being a proper Fire Lord, but it doesn’t come without its consequences. We didn't realize it at the time, but it wasn't long before my visions came back."

None of the youngsters knew what she was talking about, but Master Tenzin, Lin and Kya could vaguely remember Aang, Katara and Toph telling them stories about what happened in their respective universes.

Azula's visions had ended some time after the war, but they never heard about them coming back. 

"It was those damn spirits..." Azula chuckled and shook her head. Her laugh sounded as sinister and out of place as it always had. "They were angry. It was ironic. They were meant to haunt Fire Lords but instead they came to haunt me. It felt like a taunt almost, but I realized eventually it was because they were angry."

Tenzin knew a few things about the Kemurikage - wicked, masked spirits that were feared in the Fire Nation, but he was thankful to never have encountered one himself. 

"Some would say I deserved it," she hesitated a moment. "I would say I deserved it."

"Understatement of the fucking century…" Lin mumbled to herself as she passed along Lady Asami to grab a book, handing it along to Mako and Thuy to check out along with Bolin and Opal checking out books they grabbed.

The remark didn't escape the former Fire Nation Princess who gave a quick glare at her as she kept searching.

"But the visions of them were worse than anything I'd experienced before and I no doubt was going to die. It was a new type of insanity that I couldn't handle anymore."

She picked up a book, squinting at the cover before putting it back on the shelf as Azula remembered stumbling upon the Sanctuary during a bout of madness, catching sight of the fire nuns and the woman who held the title of Fire Mother before her who all knew what she was enduring.

"But coming to the Sanctuary saved me. The nuns here knew everything there is to know about spirits. They taught me not to fight the Kemurikage, but to appease them."

"If they know spirits, can't they just tell us about Sha-Garou?" Bolin The Magma Warrior asked.

"We don't study shadow spirits too much here," Azula replied. "They're mischievous, and they rarely receive our prayers."

Sami could hear Khu-Shui agree in her thoughts.

" _Last time I heard a prayer, it put me to sleep._ " the spirit said, and the engineer held in her laugh.

"Anyway, I decided to stay." Azula carried on. "It was the most peace I've had in a long time, helped me finally see reason, mend certain fences with those I had pushed away, and eventually I worked my way up." She turned towards the crew, a slight smirk on her face. " _Don't I always_?" 

Tenzin and Kya almost chuckled. As different as she looked, she was still the same Azula they heard about. 

"I'm sorry you went through that," Master Tenzin said. "Being tormented by spirits isn't something I'd wish on anyone."

Azula nodded, thankful to hear that for her.

Their search for a useful book seemed to be fruitless, until a nun came walking round from another row. "Fire Mother!" she said. "I think we found something."

Azula turned her attention to the fraying book she held. "Shadow spirits," she smiled. "Just what we were looking for."

* * *

The fire nuns had shown Hattori and One Arm Kya to their rooms. Hattori's was first, and one of them unlocked the door for him, letting him inside as the bloodbender was led away to her room by another.

The Chief took in the sight. It was a nicely arranged and neat bedroom with a desk and various reading material. The bed was made, and the sheets looked...

"Oh, yes please!" Hattori exclaimed, plonking himself down onto the bed. It was as soft and comfortable as it looked and his head sunk deeply into the pillows. "It's like sleeping on a cloud..." He closed his eyes and sighed. 

“So I assume you like the bed?” The Fire Nun who had led them there asked in a knowing tone as he laid face first into the pillow, loving how it felt against his face.

“My bed back at home is harder than a rock and the only sleep I’ve gotten in hours was on the back of a Sky-Bison, so… _FUCK YES_ _._ ”

When he looked up again, he saw that _the Fire Nun was still there_ , lingering by the door which she closed behind herself. Her dark, piercing eyes looked straight at him, which Hattori had to admit seemed a bit out of place.

“... ah… Are you expecting a tip out of me?”

"Would you enjoy some company?" she asked bluntly, her eyes not leaving his. 

Hattori felt himself blush slightly, something not unusual for him but he was taken by surprise. He blinked twice, registering what she was trying to ask. 

" _Company?_ " 

She nodded once, taking her unique looking hat off and letting lose her long dark hair. She ran her hand through it before looking back at the Chief as she gave him a longing look. 

“Yes, for the entire night.”

Hattori couldn't help but gulp. But before he could dwell on that too long, he answered her. "Sure."

There was a beautiful woman asking to keep him company. He was born half blind, not stupid, he would have been foolish to say no after all. 

The Fire Nun smiled as she approached him, undoing the buttons to her robe as Hattori watched.

"I never gave you my name, I am Fire Nun Shali."

As she came up on the bed with him, the Chief wondered as he began metalbending his uniform off, for a split second, whether someone had asked Kya the same thing.

* * *

The bloodbender couldn't say she didn't like the state of the room. It was nice, classy and clean. There really was nothing to complain about, if it wasn't for the way the nun that led her inside was acting. She couldn't help thinking something _suspicious_ was going on.

Not helping the Fire Nun’s case was the Fire Mother and who she was. 

"Thanks," she said. "This is fine." 

The young nun tilted her head, that damned smile still on her lips. What was she smiling about? What was she hiding? 

"JUST fine?" she asked.

Kya couldn't help but squint at her tone of voice. Why did she say it like that? 

"Yes. It's fine… whatever your name is."

The woman wasn't letting up. To Kya's surprise, she reached and took her hand gently. "Fire Nun Hisako. Is there something I could do to make it... _better?_ "

Kya looked down at the intertwined hands then back up at the fire nun. She felt her blood rush to her face. "What... What's happening?" 

Hisako ran her thumb along the back of the bloodbender's hand, before running her fingers slowly up her arm. "It's just a question..." she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Is there something?" 

Her eyes searched Kya's face for an answer as she looked at the fire nun, her expression frozen. She was coming to the realization that maybe... maybe just maybe the nun wasn't being suspicious after all. Was she just being... flirty? 

"Err..." she tried to come up with something to say. At first she wanted an excuse, something to get her out of this, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought maybe she didn't. The woman regarded her with questioning eyes, her pale skin looking more beautiful in the warm light. The bloodbender had no idea what to say.

Without a clear answer, the Fire Nun hesitantly pulled her hand away, respecting Kya's uncertainty. She didn't want to pressure her into anything.

"You can call for me later if you change your mind," Hisako said with a wink, turning and heading for the door. 

Kya took a deep breath. Perhaps in her youth she would have said yes, but now she just didn't feel so wild anymore. She was still in contact with Reiko, but their relationship had dwindled some time ago.

Ever since then, Kya never had another lover, or at least any real ones. She didn't want to think that she had been holding herself back, so she always blamed it on her age.

She looked at the woman as she opened the door to leave.

And yet it was the Fire Nun that had asked her - age, missing arm and all. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with it after all. 

"WAIT, Hisako..." she said, and the nun stopped, turning back towards her. "Maybe... maybe there _is_ something."

Her smile was back on her face, but this time Kya was glad to see it as the Fire Nun approached her, removing her odd hat, revealing the short slicked back light brown hair she had hidden under it, a look of interest in Hisako’s eyes as she leaned in front of Kya, whispering into her ear in a husky tone.

“Do tell me as you are our guest….”

* * *

The aged hands of Azula slowly opened the book in her hand, being as delicate as she could be as she touched and moved the brittle pages. It seemed as though this was one of the oldest pieces in the library.

“Wonder how come there aren’t any books like these today in proper condition…” Asami noted as the former Fire Nation Princess lifted her head.

“My great grandfather Sozin in his last years as Fire Lord ordered any and all books and scrolls pertaining to the subject of certain spirits to be destroyed. It’s said he decreed it as to demoralize what Airbenders remained, making them easy pickings…” She explained, looking through the book, seeing such old drawings of different figures surrounded by a black void.

Among the black void she saw was what looked like six dots of red looking down at the figures like eyes.

“However, I doubt that to be the case as one night, I remember spying on my dear uncle speaking to grandfather, my name sake…” Azula began explaining, remembering when she couldn’t sleep and decided to roam the palace as everyone slept, or so she thought. “Uncle Iroh believed that he sensed a shadow spirit in his presence after the Siege of Ba Sing Se where my cousin Lu Ten died under his service”

“Do you think he was telling the truth? That a shadow spirit was… ”Interested” in your uncle?” Master Tenzin asked as Azula simply shrugged.

“My uncle and I never really saw eye to eye, among other things.” She began, slightly wishing in hindsight that maybe she could have had a better relationship with him.. “But if there was one thing I knew for sure about him, especially in later years, he _NEVER_ took the matter of spirits lightly.”

With another flip of the worn pages, Azula saw an image of the same figure as before, but with red where his eyes would be, weird shapes of black coming from the shadow it cast. “He told my grandfather that the day of his greatest shame, amongst the corpses of those who perished, a shadow spirit came to him, offering the chance of getting revenge on not just the armies of Ba Sing Se, but the entire city, for the death of his only child.”

“But obviously, he didn’t go for it. Clearly he didn’t give in.” Lady Asami said as she watched the Fire Mother nod in agreement.

“Iroh told his father that he didn’t accept it’s offer, having been told by Sozin in private when he was younger about ‘Wicked spirits’. Those that could offer you much power, but at the expense of your body and soul. Seems the old man’s words stuck with him.”

“If what you’re saying is true, Sozin didn’t have anything telling about spirits destroyed to scare Airbenders into drawing themselves out…” Korra began before her warrior self finished for her.

“But because he was too scared of the true monsters, those worse than him.” Korra of The Southern Water Clan explained, both finding it rather funny that such a cruel and vicious ruler was scared of something.

Like even thinking of the possibility of his former friend Roku coming back to seek revenge from beyond the grave.

“ _One man’s fear is another’s weapon_. It goes both ways, remember that.” The old woman smirked before noticing something. “I may have found something interesting that may pique your interest…”

Carefully taking the open book in hand to a nearby table for the others to see, Azula pointing out some text.

“The text here is a bit hard to translate, even for someone like me, but here’s what I can make out.” She said as she began moving her finger along the pages, reading out the words as best as she could. “ _Spirits of shadows be not like mortals… Even when defeated, no matter the method… another form, they shall be reborn…_ ”

“Aww! So regardless of how much we kick it’s butt, we can’t kill Sha-Garou?!” Bolin cried out.

“I’m not finished yet, YOU INANE DRIBBLING-!” The Fire Mother began to insult him, about to raise her hand towards the earthbender and set him aflame…

… but nothing came out of her fingertips, not that it didn’t stop the Earthbender from flinching.

Azula had caught herself just in time making the same old mistake of hers, lashing out at others for minor offenses, lowering her hand as the others watched her slink back into what she was now…

An old woman who had to work her way into one form of power after losing what she had.

“Apologizes…” Azula’s voice came out in a small meek tone before clearing her throat, resuming reading the text from where she left off. “ _Only two ways could the cycle of the Shadow Spirit be ended… Either by its opposite, the Bright Spirit, one said to be formed from the light that shines from the stars in the night sky... or a sacrifice._ ”

“Okay, that first one shouldn’t be an issue. We can go back into Republic’s Gate, go into the spirit portal there and find us a Bright Spirit.” Kya explained, remembering that in all the universes they’ve seen, there has always been a spirit portal in Republic City.

But just as Kya began giving her idea, Sami felt her head go light and lower before it rose back up, the red and yellow eyes revealing Khu-Shui in control of her.

“ _There lies a small issue with that idea…_ ” The Shadow Spirit explained, knowing everyone wasn’t going to like she said. “ _Bright Spirits themselves were driven into extinction._ ”

“WHAT?!” Lin yelled at the spirit, approaching her. “The one surefire thing to snuff out Sha-Garou, and it’s extinct, I call bullshit!” She called out as Khu-Shui sighed.

“ _Well, it’s not bullshit, I should know…_ ” The seemingly eternal being said as she crossed her arms, pointing at the book. “ _Because the same rules apply for Bright Spirits, either a sacrifice or a Shadow Spirit can end their life cycle…_ ” Then she closed Sami’s eyes, not wanting to admit the truth, but she had to.

“ _And in my universe, all the universes, the Shadow Spirits overwhelmed those of bright, including Sha-Garou…_ ” The spirit felt Sami’s lip quiver and shake, feeling her heart beat fast like her own.

“ _And myself. I helped commit spiritual genocide on a whole race of spirits…_ ”

Seeing the looks of silent disbelief from everyone in the room, Khu-Shui rose up Sami’s hand, causing the shadows cast all over engulf the library, surrounding everyone in the darkness as they all saw what looked like a bright wave of light forming before it began moving around them.

“Woah...” Opal was all she could say seeing the spirit, knowing that Jinora and Bumi would love to see one.

“ _That’s a Bright Spirit, the most innocent form of spirit you can ever think of._ ” Khu Shui’s voice said as both Korra’s saw the spirit swirl around them, almost innocently, seeing it’s eyes weren’t six red ones like a shadow spirits, but of a calm blue of three, it’s voice like the echo of a Manatee Whale as it kept moving around.

Even _Azula_ , who always strove herself to never showing weakness, was in amazement and awe at the beautiful spirit as it moved near her direction, like it knew she was sitting there, wanting to touch it as she felt her old eyes water at something so majestic.

But then a sound unfamiliar to her groaned out behind her in a twisted manner, causing the Fire Mother to turn and see what looked like a being of black sickly ooze spill onto the ground. Six red eyes, looking mischievous, flicked around them as the room grew cold.

Everyone else in the room however knew that sound all too well.

“ _And that is what I truly am, a Shadow Spirit…_ ” Khu-Shui sadly said as Azula along with the others watched the vile being move itself on the ground, like an infection as the Bright Spirit seemed to flow near it.

That’s when the Shadow Spirit _sprung itself onto it’s enemy_ , causing the kind and innocent spirit to give a deathly scream of pain as it flew around, trying to get the monstrous spirit off of it as it whined for help.

But it was no use as the Bright Spirit fell defeated at the feet of the shadowbender, who watched as what she was absorb what remained of the bright spirit into the shadows of it’s being, a single tear rolling down Sami’s eye.

“ _That was the first Bright Spirit I killed..."_ She said, looking at the others, sensing their horror.

" _But it was just a matter of simple survival for a young Shadow Spirit, like a cat hawk catching a chicken mouse, nothing more. What the others did however was just pure sadism..._ ”

As if the traumatizing memory wasn’t enough for everyone to witness, similar battles between both forms of spirits were seen all around the crew and the Fire Mother, all witnessing the attacks.

While the Bright Spirits attempted to fight back, some even managing to defeat their more evil counterparts, it was too much as their screams grew louder and louder as Khu-Shui, both the spirit in Sami and her old self, watched the chaos unfold, her own six eyes watching in confusion that grew into _terrifying realization_ at her fellow spirits exterminating the beings of light without remorse. _Or even reason._

Finally, after what seemed like hours, two bright spirits remained, one seeming to be in front of the other as they made sad but loving sounds to each other, as if it was a male protecting it’s female, looking up at the many shadow spirits looming above them, just playing with their prey in a sick game as they made disgusting sounds...

_… with one of them sounding awfully a lot like Sha-Garou._

Opal had to turn away into Bolin’s arms as did Lady Asami into her Korra as the larger group descended onto the two, feasting upon their enemies like savages.

Khu-Shui too closed Sami’s eyes, not wanting to witness the sight again as her former self seemed to have cried out for the Bright Spirits, trying to save them, but the other shadow spirits pushed her back.

It was even worse to hear as the young shadow spirit now sounded like she was repeating three words _in the voice of a small human girl._

" _STOP IT! PLEASE!! STOP! PLEASE! STOP IT!!!_ "

Then the shadow spirit opened her host's eyes again as the shadows and the evil spirits they came from vanished, everyone back in the library.

“ _Seeing an entire race of spirits being slaughtered, unable to help them was what drove me away from my own kind, Sha-Garou’s kind. I couldn’t live with the fact that I just stood by and didn’t try to help until it was too late, that’s how I made my contribution to their extinction..._ “ She said before looking at Lin.

“ _That temple in the Spirit World you, Korra and the others found me in when trying to save your brother, that’s where I hid since then, in shame, watching so many of my kind force themselves into the human world, corrupting men, women, children, all as a sick replacement for the prey they annihilated._ ” She then looked at those from this universe.

“ _Each version of me in a universe, we’re a hive mind, a single entity spawned from the first universe, split into many pieces over the years, thousands of years as far back as Avatar Wan._ ”

Looking up, Khu-Shui could hear Sha-Garou’s wicked laughter in her mind. “ _The only other shadow spirit it happened to was Sha-Garou…_ ” She then lowered her head to look at both Korra’s. “ _He sees what he does, corrupting humans with his powers to take revenge, as his only goal in life, to watch what misery and suffering he causes with glee and lust. I thought that by helping you and your friends defeat him in all the universes, that’d be it. But in your universe, only his physical form was gone, not his mind which spread out to another new universe spawned from yours, the Prime universe, where he had a new goal as he realized the same was happening there…_ ”

“ _He made sure_ that I became Dark Korra in that universe.” Korra realized, shaking her head, her eyes tearing up and her nose sniffling at this. “He _ALWAYS_ planned on corrupting her, just as some fucked up form of entertainment.”

“ _And he waited patiently, waited for her to slip up and give in..._ “ Khu-Shui explained before looking at the two Asami’s. “ _Sha-Garou knew he had her once Guan caused Sami to lose her and Korra’s unborn baby._ ”

“Dark Korra energybending other Avatars, it’s not to increase her power…” Master Tenzin began to explain, realizing what was up when Azula herself finished for him.

“It’s so _Sha-Garou could have more control_ until it’s impossible to remove him when he possess full control of her body, allowing him to keep playing with the other universes. A clever idea I hate to admit.” The former villain said, having to give some form of credit as much as it disgusted her to say it.

“How would you know all of this?” Mako The Fire and Lightning asked Khu-Shui, sensing there was something else the spirit wasn’t saying as did his brother who approached her.

“Did you know this was going to happen?!” Bolin The Magma Warrior asked.

The shadow spirit nodded. “ _Yes, yet the part of me from the Prime universe, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t interfere directly in the matters of Sami’s universe…_ ” Then she remembered the visit her other self had gotten from an old friend.

“ _But she had an idea, one that…_ ” Khu-Shui began, giving a small smile at both Korra and her warrior self. “ _An old airbender friend of yours wondered about._ ”

“Avatar Knight Aang?” Korra of The Southern Water Clan said in shock as Korra herself had a similar, more silent response.

“My father, you spoke with my… _our_ father?” Kya asked as she looked at the other version of her brother as Khu-Shui nodded with a smile.

“ _He questioned my other self’s choice in helping out, knowing Sha-Garou’s evil escaped. But my other self told him he worried too much…_ ” She said before turning back to Korra. “ _That the Prime would bring the universe's back into equilibrium._ ”

Then Khu-Shui looked down at Sami’s hands, remembering what the other part of the plan was, one she never shared with her host before.

“ _My other self told me to save Sami after Dark Korra left her for dead after killing her friends and allies. That my interference in Sha-Garou’s plans would lead to her coming to the prime’s universe, where we’d then go universe to universe, getting as much help as they could from each one until they found out the one and only way to put an end to his madness... even if I had to force Sami to fight against the woman she loved._ ”

Giving a deep breath, Khu-Shui spotted a mirror that happened to be hanging in the room, seeing on the reflection her red and yellow eyes where Sami’s light green ones would be.

“ _Sami, I know you’re listening, but I’m sorry I kept this from you, using you as my tool against Sha-Garou. But this whole journey, it made me realize what it’s like being human… to make mistakes, to regret them, to feel loss… to learn from them and better myself… I just hope you have it in your heart to forgive me._ ”

With a close of her eyes, a different voice came out.

“I forgive you Khu-Shui.” Sami said in a soft voice, opening her eyes, having heard and seen everything the Shadow Spirit spoke of.

As no one dared to make a response after all of that, Sami herself took it upon herself to look at Azula, approaching her. “What was that other option you mentioned? The only other way to stop Sha-Garou and my wife?”

The former wicked woman saw in the Shadowbender’s eyes, even as she seemingly showed no fear, there was something else in there, she knew what it was, the regret of having to make a painful choice to save others.

“A sacrifice. That is, apparently now, the only way to stop Sha-Garou.”

“That’d mean perhaps… _having to kill Dark Korra while he’s in her._ ” Thuy realized as did the others. “You said it yourself Azula, a sacrifice is needed, Dark Korra is that sacrifice.”

“Thuy, do you know what you’re saying?” Mako asked his girlfriend who felt aggravated having to say what she had to say.

“Look, while there’s been plenty of signs that the old girl is still in there, you’ve seen Sha-Garou when he’s in complete control. And we’ve seen what he could do in control of _THE FUCKIN' AVATAR!_ ” Thuy explained, not wanting to say this, knowing how horrible she felt to say this, even about a evil version of a friend, turning to Korra.

“I’m sorry love, but it’s too much of a risk to keep her alive, even with trying to have you or warrior you energybend that shadow spirit out of her.”

“Huh, you are very much like your ancestor.” Azula was able to snark in her usual style, only for Thuy to turn and point at her in anger.

“ZIP IT, YA’ BAG OF BONES!”

If she was her old self, Azula would have killed this girl on the spot, even if she was from the same bloodline as Hiromi… but now, she had to give the girl some credit for standing her ground and mouthing off to her, something which she wouldn’t allow even the most loyal of Fire Sisters to do, not even Doremi.

“Azula, doesn’t that book say anything else, like _any other way_ to save Sami’s Korra?” Kya asked, her hands on the table as the Fire Mother shook her head, pointing at the book.

“I’m sorry Kya, but that’s all the book says, that only two things can stop a Shadow Spirit. And since option one got thrown out the window…” She explained before feeling… a feeling she never felt on a regular basis, regret as she turned to look at both Korra’s as she saw their respective lovers hold onto their hands.

“All you got left is option two. You NEED to kill Dark Korra while Sha-Garou is still in her.”

“Can we… I mean… _can I really?_ ” Korra of The Southern Water Tribe began trying to say, the idea being crazy. “Okay, look, I may have slayed my fair share of creatures on quests before, but, this is so…” She tried to say, looking at Korra, hoping she’d have something to say, but she too was conflicted on the choice being laid out.

“I’m not entirely sure myself, I’ve had my own many chances to do similar deeds, but-”

“No, _we have to do it…_ ”

Everyone had turned to Sami, who had been staring into the air since the whole debate began. “As much as it hurt me to say it, in order to free my wife from Sha-Garou’s influence and be rid of him forever...”

She then took off one of her metal gloves with the crystal on it, seeing the wedding band on her finger given to her by her Korra on their wedding day.

“... we have to kill my Korra.”

Words that stung Sami’s throat as she tried to make peace with the idea, yet with each passing second, it was getting harder and harder to accept even knowing it seemed like the only option left..

Just then, a loud crash was heard from above the ceiling as dust fell from it.

Everyone in the room knew what that meant.

“Damnit, she’s here!” Sami yelled out before noticing along with everyone else Fire Mother Azula rising up from her seat, those evil gold eyes of hers shining like she was young once more.

“Since you all lead her here to this sanctuary, NONE OF YOU will leave the premises until either you make her retreat, you kill her or you die by her hands! _Do I make myself clear?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that be a long chapter! Sorry about that. XD Wanna say thanks alot to the new co-writer of the last couple chapters, "AvatarPipTook" from FF.net for proofreading this chapter! She was the co-writer of mine for the original version of "Blood in the Shadows" on FF. And I'm glad to be working with her again to finish the fic, she's got some wonderful ideas planned!
> 
> ANYWHO'S, the Fire Nuns have been introduced and, spoiler except for those who decided to skip ahead to this note and not read the chapter, their leader is this universe's version of FUCKING AZULA! Me and Coniine wanted a big surprise appearance from a ATLA character who hadn't appeared in LOK before, so... well, come on, who doesn't love Azula? We did had to make sure this older version of her was in check with herself from the comics, but we made it work.
> 
> As for other surprises, turns out Thuy, our metalbending gal with the British accent is actually a descendant of an Avatar, the very same the Fire Nun's treat with respect. And trust us, this will payoff in later chapters. And looks like both Hattori Beifong and One-Arm Kya are getting themselves some action... cause why not?
> 
> OH and also Khu-Shui's backstory... no lie, that was hard to write as I will admit to tearing a bit writing it... I hold no shame. X3
> 
> Last bit before this ends, our brief scene of Dark Korra and Sha-Garou was actually something we didn't plan, but I wrote up anyway to which Coniine liked. So, there's that, more of the partnership slowly chipping away.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter will of course be even more crazier, especially with Azula ready to join the fight. :Tee-hee:


	12. Chapter Eleven- Embers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to some graphic violence, a brief mention of torture, some sexual content (Maybe not as much TW there, but still) and character death. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

The tan skinned nun rested her head on Hattori's scarred shoulder as they laid down together on the bed, their naked forms covered by the blanket. It had been fun, and the Chief was glad to know he still had it for his age, but he couldn't help feeling a little... empty inside.

All those thoughts of Izumi drifted back into his mind, and as much as he tried to oppress them, he couldn't. He dreaded to think that he might still be in love with the Izumi of his universe.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash.

Fire Nun Shali lifted her head, listening out. "Did you hear that?" she said.

Hattori swore, already knowing what that sound meant. "I think that's my cue to leave."

The woman got off him, holding her robe against her exposed chest as she let Hattori stand up. 

"Stay here Shali, we'll take care of it," he said, seeing the scared look in her eyes. He rushed and threw his trousers and pants back on, leaving his shirt and armor behind as he hurried out with his chain and hook in hand. 

Running into the corridor he saw Kya come out of her room too, her hair disheveled. She hadn't gotten round to doing anything major, but she hurriedly wiped off any traces of the nun's lipstick from her face. 

"You back in action?" Hattori chuckled. 

"Like we can ever escape that evil spirit."

" _Not_ what I was referring to."

Kya scowled at him. "You're so funny." she said sarcastically before hurrying after him out of the sanctuary. 

* * *

Before the crew rushed out, Azula had instructed the nuns to stay behind. 

"Don't risk yourself out there," the Fire Mother said. "Stay back, look after the sanctuary." Then she turned to Doremi, handing the frail book to her, clasping her hands in hers for a few moments. "Please take the title of Fire Mother," she said to her, her voice suddenly quiet. "And bear it with the name I gave you at birth, _Ty Lee._ "

Doremi, or rather, Ty Lee II nodded. "Take care, mother," she said, though she knew why Azula was doing this. 

The crew's eyes widened at hearing that name, but Azula didn't waste anymore time. She turned and rushed down the hall to the Sanctuary's entrance, and the crew had to hurry after her.

* * *

Mintues eariler, Dark Korra dismounted from her ostrich horse as the sun began to set. “Don’t mind the loud noise girl.” She said before blasting the sanctuary gates open with a strong gust of wind, nearly ripping the door off its hinges. 

" _Be careful..._ " Sha-Garou said. " _They might have the place littered with fire rune traps. They'll explode on contact._ "

"Is there anyone you don’t know about?" 

The spirit cackled. " _I know things about everyone. Now find this universe's Avatar._ "

The Dark Avatar heard movement and before she could step a foot closer to the temple, she saw the crew coming out after her. She smirked to herself. 

"Seems I smoked them out."

The crew gathered in the courtyard. Even from the beginning, Dark Korra could tell there were a lot of them, and this wasn't going to be easy. But she wasn’t ready to back down in this universe, the shadowbender still had some anger towards Sha-Garou that needed to be let out. Then she spotted the unfamilar old woman among them and chuckled.

"Getting help from the poor grandmas here? WOW, you must be desperate."

Azula grinned, full of malice. "Another Avatar that doesn't know who _I_ _am._ " Her insults did nothing other than fuel her innate anger and power. "Not for long though."

Dark Korra squinted. The confidence of the old nun was out of place. 

" _Get her out of the way first..._ " Sha-Garou said in her thoughts, surprised himself as he realized who this infamous woman was standing with the crew. " _That's this universe’s Azula!_ "

"Whatever."

She weaved the shadows up around them, building up her powers. She reached out with a shadow tentacle to swat the nun out of the way as Sha-Garou said, but her reaction time was flawless, and she cut it apart with a slash of blue fire. 

“ _Ah, I’m sorry, care to repeat that?_ ”

Dark Korra was only slightly surprised by her bending. She had obviously seen blue fire before due to Sha-Garou’s power influencing her own firebending, but Azula’s was all natural. Yet it wasn't going to stop her.

The crew themselves were starting to wonder where One Arm Kya and Hattori were, and as if on cue, the two of them ran up just in time. Lin frowned, seeing her alternative universe brother shirtless, his upper body and arms riddled with scars. She opened her mouth to ask something, but he cut her off. 

“Yes yes, Zaheer and air blades are a bad combo, spent a lot of time in the hospital, focus on the matter at hand.” He rambled on, not realizing that she actually wanted to ask about both the hickey on his neck and the scratch marks on his back.

Dark Korra looked out at the crew. She needed a game plan. 

" _You are more powerful now._ " Sha-Garou said. "Use them."

She nodded, focusing hard. She felt the shadows around her as though they had a mind of their own and all she had to do was give them life. It was draining her power, and Korra had tried to stop it, hurling a rock towards her but she only growled and slashed it apart with a shadow. All around her, the darkness was taking form, and figures rose up as her soldiers. She panted, an horde of several shadow warriors at her side.

"Didn't think I could do this, did you?" she hissed. 

The crew stared at what they just witnessed, seeing the darkness seem to be living and breathing around Dark Korra, but Azula wasn't phased in the slightest and instead let out a laugh. 

"Oh cute, you made shadow puppets."

She led the charge against the Dark Avatar, stepping forward, spinning into a flying kick and hurling flames at the shadowbender. One of her soldiers stepped forward, tanking the hit, holding up a shield of shadow.

"Split them up!" Azula yelled towards the others, and the crew did as they were told. They rushed forward, spreading themselves out. 

Bolin the Magma Warrior let out a battle cry as he charged one of the soldiers, swinging his warhammer over his head and slamming it hard onto the ground. A ripple of magma exploded out of the ground at the soldier's feet, and he had to fling himself backwards to avoid the split earth.

The Warrior then heaved the heavy weapon back around, its head now coated in hot lava as he jumped forward, swinging it at the shadow. It collided with his shadow shield, crushing it completely as the figure staggered backwards. 

This allowed for Bolin to take the opportunity, flinging a boulder towards him, hitting him square in the side and crushing the soldier as the shadows he was made from dispersed along the ground before taking the same boulder into the air, using his lavabending to quickly heat it up and send it into two more of them.

Hattori threw out a metal hook, taking a hold of another soldier's shield, yanking on it, but the shadow wouldn't let go. Lin wrapped a metal cable around his waist, pulling him in the opposite direction. The awakened shadow struggled against both of their grips, leaving his chest wide open. Mako the Fire and Lightning readied up his arrow, its head flickering with bright electricity, leaving a trail of deadly lightning as it pierced the air, hitting the soldier's sternum. The figure contorted just as the two Chiefs let go, and the shadows disappeared into thin air. 

"Nicely done kid!" Hattori cheered before suddenly sensing another shadow soldier behind him and bended his chain around it's throat, dragging it closer before slamming down the pointed hook in it's head, causing it to vanish too.

Azula herself dealt with two shadow soldiers at the same time, spinning around her flames all over in a circle with her fists, leaving them open for Thuy to wrap her metal wire around their waists and used her bending to tug hard enough to slice them and their shields in two as they fell apart

That got the Fire Mother to smirk at the descendant of Avatar Hiromi in respect, with the girl giving one back before getting back to fighting more shadow soldiers.

The prime Avatar waved her hand around in line with the two Kya’s, all three waterbending together a massive ball of water in the air before they clenched their hands, causing the water to burst and fall as the droplets turned into ice spikes that rained down onto some shieldless soldiers, dropping them down to the ground and causing them to unform.

Another shadow soldier swung it’s sword down onto Lady Asami, who blocked the blow with her shield before driving her elven blade into its stomach, kneeling down with her shield up to allow Asami to run up onto it as a makeshift platform, jumping off it with her electric glove turned on full settings as she landed on another soldier, shocking it with the grip of her glove, causing it’s head to explode in a burst of shadows before the rest of its body.

“Don’t let up, keep holding them off!” Lady Asami yelled out as she quickly held out her shield in front of Asami to protect her from a possible stabbing, while the engineer returned the favor by socking another shadow soldier sneaking up being the elven warrior in the face.

Lin herself ended up back to back with Mako as the team of officers had a power play in mind.

“HOT SHOTS!” She yelled out with the firebender grabbing some of her metal cords and heated them up with his bending, allowing the metalbender to send out what was red hot towards a large group of shadow soldiers, blasting holes into them to drop them into nothingness.

When one seemed to come back out, Mako swiftly drove the heel of his shoe down onto it’s head with a firetrail following it.

The airbenders from the two different universes combined their control over their respective bending techniques as both Master Tenzin and Opal created a wind tornado that sucked up some nearby soldiers still in the battle.

That left them for the red eyed Sami to rush in and slam her fists on the ground, causing a massive cluster of flat shadow projectiles to burst up from other shadows cast, slicing them up into pieces that fell back onto the ground.

Her soldiers were keeping the crew busy, but she had to act fast. Dark Korra glared through the crowd, finding the Avatar she was looking for. It was almost hilarious to see herself wield those ridiculous axes, swinging wildly at the soldiers around her, the blades coated in hard, sharp ice. 

She sunk into the shadows, weaving around the others, appearing behind the warrior Avatar, taking her by surprise. She grabbed her hand with a shadow tentacle, holding it in place, but she refused to drop her axe. Her grip on her weapons was impressive, but Dark Korra was certain it was about to yield. 

She conjured up a shadow claw, but to her surprise, the Avatar Knight twisted her body round so she could slash the tentacle holding her with her free hand, the ice blade cutting right through it. Before she could be bound again, she spun round, swinging with her axes at full force towards Dark Korra. 

The shadowbender had to jump out of the way, impressed at the fight she was putting up.

In a split second, the Avatar Knight switched tactics, and with a flick of her axes the ice on the blades cracked open as flames sprouted from the metal. 

"You think you can impress me with your fancy weapons?" Dark Korra scoffed. 

Korra of the Southern Water Clan let out a cry as she swung her axe. A trail of fire was left by the blade where it cut the air, and its momentum hurled it towards the Dark Avatar. 

The shadowbender hadn't expected that and she only just barely parried the attack with a shadow hand. Her brows furrowed and she was starting to get angry.

She lashed out with a thin tentacle, weaving it around Avatar Knight Korra's defenses and latching onto the hilt of her axe. As she went to slash at it with her other weapon, her other arm was grabbed also. She had her axes yanked out of her hands. 

"What are you gonna do now?"

The Avatar Knight screamed, breathing fire towards the shadowbender, but Dark Korra stopped it short as a shadow hand grasped her throat. 

Korra of the Southern Water Clan choked, struggling against her grip, the hand lodged tightly just under her jaw. 

"I got you now."

Dark Korra saw the flash of blue out the corner of her eye, and ducked quickly, feeling the heat of the flames slide over her head. She stood back up, glaring in their direction. Azula stood there staring back at her, a wide grin on her face and a blue flame in her hand. 

The shadowbender hit towards her with her own blue fire, but with every fire punch she threw her way, Azula dodged them with such ease that it seemed impossible for someone her age.

"I must say, for my first impression of shadowbending…” Azula began. “I just _don’t_ see the appeal!" She gloated back at the shadowbender.

Dark Korra frowned at this, which the Fire Mother wanted. But she knew her opponent was way too used to normal bending techniques - she needed something different. 

As her attacks paused, Azula charged up her lightning, moving her hands around her as the electricity gathered at the tips of her fingers. Just as she was about to let it loose towards the Dark Avatar, a shadow hand grabbed her wrist, lurching it upwards towards the sky. The Fire Mother grunted against its grip, but the powerful lightning had already missed. 

The Dark Avatar smirked, conjuring up a shadow claw and launching it at her. Azula let free a burst of flames with her free hand, countering the shadow and pushing it aside, making it miss. 

Opal spotted the Fire Mother in Dark Korra's grip and readied her a gust of window to throw the shadowbender away. Azula spotted it, and readied, her cunning self coming up with a plan. 

As the airbender threw Dark Korra off balance with her air strike, Azula blasted her. It was a quick, powerful bolt of fire, less meant to hurt her as much as it was meant to hurl her into the direction she wanted. She angled it just right, and the Dark Avatar flew backwards against the wall of the Sanctuary.

As she dropped back down to the ground, she spotted _the glowing marking_ on the charred grass too late. The fire rune went off, and she was caught in the middle of its explosion. 

The shadow tentacles loosened, and Azula wriggled free. The crew waited expectantly, but as the smoke died down, they spotted the cocoon of shadow. From it, Dark Korra rose from the ground, panting, sweat dripping down her forehead. 

Azula's eyes widened. 

The Avatar Knight wriggled free of most tentacles, but still struggled with the one against the throat as any movement against it made her choke even more. Before Sami could rush to her and help her, Dark Korra let out a terrifying scream, and in a last ditch attempt yanked the Avatar Knight up, hanging her in the air. 

More shadows sprouted from the ground. Sharp, contorting appendages that the crew had nowhere to escape them. There was nothing they could do as they were held tight, watching this world's Avatar being strangled before their eyes. 

Azula boiled with anger. _No one_ defeated her and got away with it. And there was no way she was letting the Avatar Knight be killed _under her watch._

She swung towards the Dark Avatar, hurling a bright ball of blue fire towards her. The shadowbender dodged it, just as the shadows took a hold of the Fire Mother’s leg.

Yet Azula was betting on that happening, smiling to see the fireball instead hit the shadow hand holding up Korra of The Southern Water Clan, losing its grip on her, letting the Avatar drop onto the ground.

" _Get her out of the way, NOW!_ " Sha-Garou said again, with Dark Korra taking quick advantage of the opening to conjure up a shadow spike and threw it right at Azula.

_The projectile connected._

It stuck through the side of the Fire Mother’s stomach, coming out her back as blood squirted out onto the brunt ground below. 

" _NNNOOOO!_ " Thuy cried out as she and the others saw the Fire Mother look down at the shadow spike sticking through her body, dropping down onto one knee as she turned to look at the girl who was the descendant of her order’s Avatar founder...

Yet all Azula did was _chuckle_ and give a knowing wink to the surprised metalbender, as if it didn’t surprise her in the slightest before she looked back up at a confused Dark Korra, spitting some blood on the ground as she shook her head. "Even in a different life… you Avatar’s… are _still_ so predictable."

She knew that the spike hit some vital organs, and she would bleed out if she didn't hurry.

So Azula took a deep breath and got back onto her two feet, eyes still focused on the still confused fallen Avatar. _This was it._

Holding her hands out, Azula began gathering her full power, she swirled dense fire around her as the shadows that held her cracked under the intense heat.

The flames grew more and more, until their powerful blue light stung to even look at. Around its edges, sparks flew, and balls of lightning formed amongst the crackling fire spinning around the Fire Mother who looked at her opponent, _her golden eyes burning into blue glowing embers_ as she gave one last defiant grin.

Dark Korra watched, her eyes widening. She had never seen anything like this before. Then the girl heard the old woman give her final words in the only way she knew how.

“You’re nothing but _HIS plaything_ , Avatar.”

Before the shadowbender could even begin processing what she said, Azula charged towards her with a mighty yell - a high speed, scorching ball of fire. Dark Korra had no time to react. The Fire Mother took her maneuver to completion, crashing into the Dark Avatar and exploding on impact.

 _A booming and bright blue supernova went off against the side of the Sanctuary_ , cracking the wall and working a flaming crater into the ground as those able to ducked to avoid the debris.

Almost immediately, the shadows slunk back into the ground, and everyone was set free.

The crew stared at the raging blue fire as it died down, waiting desperately for a sign of Azula, but there wasn't one, just ash and blue embers slowly falling in the air.

The Avatar Knight coughed on her knees as she regained her breath. Lady Asami ran to her side. 

"I'm ... fine..." the Avatar Knight managed to choke out, calming down the elven woman who had to give her a kiss of relief on the lips, if just to relax herself.

Thuy approached the dying flames, the rest of the crew following her. In the ashes, the only remaining trace of Azula were the burning robes she wore. 

But worst of all, Dark Korra was nowhere to be seen. She must have vanished in the purple energy JUST before impact, it was the only possible explanation.

"What did we just see?" Korra asked, having decided to ask the question on everyone's mind at what they just witnessed. “What did Azula just do?”

" _The Phoenix's Last Stand._ " The voice of the now Fire Mother Ty Lee said, no longer going by her old name, with everyone in the crew watching the woman slowly walk towards the still burning crater, where her mother made her selfless sacrifice. "A rare firebending technique long thought to have been forgotten.” She said, her voice starting to crack.

“Only those who’ve endured trials to rise themselves from the ashes of their tortured past could learn it. It’s only used as a last resort, when… _at death's door_."

Thuy turned from the blue flames to look at the Fire Mother, just in time to see Ty Lee's dark focused gold eyes soften, taking off her hat to show her long flowing black hair fall around her saddened face like her grandmother's, lowering her head as she gave her final words.

"May you finally be with Ty Lee in the spirit world, mother..."

Before she began to cry for her loss, the Fire Mother felt Thuy put her arms around her neck, giving her a hug as the daughter named after the woman Azula had longed for finally shed tears as the others, along with the rest of the fire nuns who had safely gotten out of the sanctuary gave their condolences in silence.

Just then, the sound of a large bird was heard coming from the blue fire briefly as within it, everyone saw _a flame in the shape of a phoenix rise up into the now night sky_ , vanishing as soon as it was seen, the flames finally dying out afterwards.

* * *

Out of the purple energy, Dark Korra rushed out, holding out her arms and hands, seeing as the sleeves of her jacket were on fire.

“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” She screamed, not trying to spread the flames as she quickly took off the jacket, with her tight red top under it exposed as she stomped out the flames, which thankfully went out, though the jacket was ruined now.

“ _Do you know where-_ ”

“NO I DO NOT! NOR DO I CARE AT THE MOMENT!” Dark Korra yelled, the pain of her arms being sensitive due to being so close to the flames as she looked at them, which thankfully only looked a bit more redder than usual.

“ _Well, that doesn't look so bad._ ” Sha-Garou noted as Dark Korra used her shadowbending enhanced waterbending to try healing the minor, if still painful, burns.

“Easy for you to say, you weren’t the one that _FREAKIN' AZULA_ tried to blow up alongside her!”

“ _Well, a different version of-_ ”

“You get what I mean!” Dark Korra stopped him, having just easily healed herself before seeing the Uchū crystal still embedded in her hand. “Okay, no more damage, that’s good…”

At that moment, the shadowbender remembered the last words Azula said to her.

'You’re nothing but _his plaything_.' Those words cut at her and left a nagging feeling like she already knew the answer herself. Still, she had to know.

“I’m not just a tool for you? What do you make of her… I mean Azula’s last warning?” The Dark Avatar asked the shadow spirit.

“ _Considering that you are referring to Azula, of all people, I’d take what she says with a grain of salt. We’re here for our reasons._ ” She heard him say, not seeming to worry.

But Dark Korra wasn’t Sha-Garou, she had plenty enough reason to worry, seeing as she almost died before escaping and making the dimensional jump at JUST the last second before she was engulfed in those blue flames.

“That’s the thing, Azula may be infamous for being a lying bitch in my universe, she also wasn’t one to hide the truth if it suited her goals.” Dark Korra pointed out, knowing that while this older and oddly dressed version of the former Fire Princess seemed to fight on the side of her enemies, her old self still came out at times during their battle.

“So it’s obvious Old Azula meant something when she said I was nothing but your plaything, so you may as well talk.”

She heard Sha-Garou give a sigh, as if he was actually annoyed at this.

“ _There may have been… a time in the past that I tried… enticing her, the one from your and the Prime’s universe, with the prospect of becoming a shadowbender._ ”

“Oh my spirits, you can’t be fucking serious…” Dark Korra’s voice let out a weak tone at hearing this. “Of all people in the world, of ALL people in the universe, _WHY AZULA?!_ ” She yelled out.

“ _Because I thought having a power mad former princess who had been bested by her brother for the throne of Fire Lord and your old Waterbending teacher be a shadowbender would be interesting… simply put, I realized she was too crazy for my tastes._ ” Sha-Garou admitted, leaving his host dumbfounded.

“SHE’S too crazy, _FOR YOU?!_ ” Dark Korra clarified.

“ _What, do you think my kind goes for any random person? I do have my limits Korra._ ” The Shadow Spirit noted, sensing that Dark Korra wasn’t buying his lie. “ _That Azula we encountered, one of the many versions of her, offered my power from other forms of me. When I decided to refuse her the status of shadowbender, she tried spitting up those damn blue flames at me once I left her in that jail cell. And apparently she wasn’t kept in there for the rest of her life, for some damn reason._ ”

That last sentence got Dark Korra’s attention as that didn’t fit with the spirit's ability of knowing everything about everyone, along with remembering Azula saying she didn’t see the appeal of shadowbending.

But the shadowbender knew if she prodded the dark spirit about it, the less pleasant things would get, so she left it be for the time being, hoping Sha-Garou didn’t catch on.

“Yeah, I noticed…” Dark Korra said before taking note of where she was at, inside some abandoned building. “I have no idea where we are.”

“ _How about we take a tour of our new location? Get you a new jacket, something to eat, maybe perhaps find another you here. That sound fun?_ ”

Dark Korra knew Sha-Garou had to know what she was thinking, yet all she could do was nod and keep him pleased. “Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter wasn't as long, but it was action packed (And little sexy too with the intro with Hattori and Shali. XD ) and yeah, crazy fight between our heroes and Azula against Dark Korra and Sha-Garou.
> 
> But the biggest thing both me and Coniine knew was that we needed a big moment in this universe and as much as we love the character, we knew that Azula, or at least this universe's version of her, wasn't gonna make it. But we weren't gonna have her go out like a bitch, cause she's fucking Azula, so she went out in a literal blaze of glory. (BTW, the glowing blue ember eyes was my idea) She had rose herself from the ashes of inner torment and gave her life to save not just the Avatar Knight and the crew, but also her daughter (Who we had to name Ty Lee) and her fellow Fire Nuns. So please, a moment of silence for our loss...
> 
> ... alrighty, enough of that. And the chapter has a double meaning, "Embers" as in all that remained of Azula after her death... and it's also a reference to the Lamb of God song of the same name, which is more about the loss of a child (Which oddly enough does fit with what happened with Dark Korra and Sami, but ignore that). And what is this new universe our slowly more and more untrusting Dark Korra has landed in? Again, wait for next chapter to find out.


	13. Chapter Twelve- A Tale of Two Kya's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EARLY CHAPTER!... by a day, but still!
> 
> Slight trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to some PTSD, character death, including that of a child, allusions to toxic relationships and brief mentions of graphic violence. Also a lead up to some smuty smut, nothing too graphic, but it's obvious. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

The fire nuns had let the travelers back into the Sanctuary to patch up their wounds and heal their injuries. The Avatar Knight had a nasty bruise around her throat, but after a bit of healing, she was feeling better. Those of this universe had only gotten a glimpse of what Sha-Garou and Dark Korra could do, and that was enough for them to agree to join the fight against them. Something which the crew were very thankful for.

Hattori caught sight of Fire Nun Shali. She was coming up to him, something small clasped in her hand.

"I want you to have this." she opened up her palm, revealing the small brooch. It had the shape of a small, pointed flame with swirling red and gold painted under the shiny gloss. 

The metalbender looked at it with a look of wonder on his face. "Ohhh, what's this?" 

"A token. You will more than likely leave this universe and never return, but if I am to bear your child, you will have this as a symbol." 

Feeling like he just hit upside the head with a pro-bender, Hattori looked around, making sure no one else heard that, before hesitantly taking the pin. "If... If you… m-MY… " He suddenly felt terrible. Would he be leaving a fatherless child in a far away universe? He already knew what it was like growing up without a dad

Oh spirits, is this what mother felt like when she gave up Lin?!?

The nun shook her head to calm him down. "Don't worry. It is customary for us. While some of us children of fire are brought in from the outside world, some are born here, like Fire Mother Ty Lee. And judging by the nature of our society, we do seek male travelers at times."

Hattori tilted his head. "Huh. Interesting."

"We give these to them. As a reminder that their child will be well taken care of." 

"So I'm not THAT special then?" He joked to which Fire Nun Shali chuckled as she hugged the metalbender. 

"Not in this way." She smiled. "Perhaps in others as I did sense your energy when you and your female friend stayed behind. That’s how I knew you had the blood of fire coursing through your veins."

“Well, not completely.” Hattori had to admit once he realized Shali meant that she knew he was born from a multicultural relationship. “Only my father was fire nation, my mother’s actually Toph Beifong, the world’s greatest Earthbender.”

“Which explains why you have a strong heart too, Hattori Beifong. And so will our child.” Shali said with a look of happiness, taking Hattori’s hand to feel her stomach where it’d grow.

The Chief was happy enough with that. He then took the brooch and pinned on his belt buckle. "Looks nice..." he said. 

“Hey One-Eye, what’s taking so long?!” One Arm Kya asked her partner who quickly tried to deny anything and told her to hush or else he’d reveal what SHE was doing with the other nun as the fire nun giggled at this.

Just as Shali was about to walk away, Hattori stopped her. “Hey, just one thing before I go…”

She turned to look at him. 

“If the, ah, child is a girl… Would you name her 'Lin'? Please. After my sister who, um, passed away.”

The fire nun was a little perplexed. Lin was very much alive as far as she knew, and there was that one of her who lead the metal guard, but the look in Hattori’s eyes was sincere and she had the impression there were things she didn’t know about his universe. Regardless, she nodded with a fair smile. “Of course, Hattori.”

The rest of the crew was gathering themselves up, now with everyone feeling better, or at least as much as they could. Sami had one last talk with Ty Lee II, the new Fire Mother. The nun had a lot of work to do to rebuild themselves and the Sanctuary, on top of the rituals that were meant to be organized to honor Ty Lee's transition to Fire Mother. 

"As much as we have to do," She said, "We are powerful. We will be of use to you in the final fight against the evil spirit."

“And you will too have the help of me and my fellow Air Monks.” Master Tenzin said as he approached her and gave a bow.

"Thank you both," Sami said. Who else would be best at fighting Sha-Garou other than a group of firebenders that devoted their lives to learning about spirits? Plus, they’d have the help of Master Tenzin and the Air Monks.

“Thuy, young child…” Fire Mother Ty Lee asked said girl who looked at her as she was able to join her friends. “I know you had no knowledge of your bloodline’s past, but maybe if all goes well in your quest, might I suggest trying to look into your ancestor’s home in your universe? Perhaps you can learn not just of Avatar Knight Hiromi’s past, but maybe more about yourself.”

The mohawked girl knew what the Fire Mother was asking her, the idea did peak her attention as she felt Mako’s hand on her shoulder, giving the older woman a smile. “Perhaps I will, Fire Mother.”

She turned towards the rest of the crew, taking Mako’s hand along with Sami’s. They congregated together and they seemed ready to go. 

"Let's hope the next one isn't too crazy," Lin said. 

Kya chuckled. "Is there any way we can go back to the Panda Lin universe?"

Lin huffed. "I don't want to be a panda..." she muttered. 

Sami got everyone to link together, and powered up the crystal. In a few moments, the Sanctuary around them vanished behind the purple light and they braced for whatever came next. 

Fire Mother Ty Lee smiled, knowing that while the final battle will settle the fate of the universes, that these brave travelers would make sure victory was theirs.

“Fire Sister Doremi- I mean…” The voice of another fire nun called out, with the older woman turning to the young girl who realized she screwed up. “Apologizes, Fire Mother Ty Lee.”

Ty Lee gave the girl a kind smile. “Need not worry my child, I’m still getting used to the title myself.”

It was then both her and Tenzin realized the girl had the old book on Shadow Spirits in hand, opening it, the Master Air Monk wondering himself.

“What is it you found?”

“I myself was curious as to what details this book held about shadow spirits…” The fire nun explained before pointing out some text and an image she had to reveal. “I think I found something that we could have informed our travelers with before they left.”

Both Ty Lee and Tenzin looked at what the book held, seeing the image was of two shapes looking to merge with each other, one was done in black ink while the other looked to be painted in white. Then the both noticed one had red dots where it was and the other had blue colored ones.

“I remember seeing something similar from what Khu-Shui showed us and your mother…” Tenzin said as he and the Fire Mother took notice of the text, what it said getting both leader's attention as Ty Lee knew what must be done.

“Before the final battle begins, we must inform _her_ of what we found out.”

* * *

The crew blinked a few times, the light around them coming back to normal as the world came into view. They shook their limbs a little - the pins and needles from the journeys were unpleasant at best. 

Bolin frowned, looking around them. "Guys?"

The roads were smooth, grey tarmac and they were relieved that this wasn't another medieval universe, and then the Satomobiles came into view. Brightly colored, quieter than they remembered, closed off vehicles sped this way and that. 

“Are those Satomobiles?” Hattori asked, blinking his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

"Those definitely look different," Asami said. 

"And all that," Mako pointed up to the buildings. They were tall skyscrapers almost entirely lined with glass panes. Large, strident billboards caught their eye. 

"Is that... Is that Varrick?" Lin said, squinting at one of the adverts. It showed a very familar man with that same ridiculous moustache, dressed in a brightly colored suit holding up a bottle of hair gel with the brand name "Varrick's Beauty Line". 

Everything was fast-paced, loud and obnoxious. 

"It's so..." Kya started, unsure how to say it. 

"Futuristic." Sami finished for her. 

"Well I guess it's my fault for complaining about medieval culture," Lin scoffed. "Now look what we got."

The crew took a moment to get their bearings. Just like in the medieval universe, although this Republic City looked different, it still had the same gist to it. They could probably find their way around but the only question was: 

"Where to?" Korra asked. She turned to Sami, but the other version of the engineer had no clue. 

"Wait, is that-?" Thuy said. They followed her gaze to a sheltered bus stop. A bright yellow, massive vehicle pulled up next to the curb and a group of young people hurried on wearing backpacks. Among them, they spotted someone that looked familiar. 

"Could that be?" Lin asked. 

"Only one way to find out!" Korra shouted back as she started running to the bus, waving her hand to get the driver's attention before he drove off. He waited as the crew started to board. 

"Pass?" He stopped them before they could get any further. 

"Pass? No we're not passing. We're coming in." Bolin said, gesturing to themselves trying to head further into the bus. 

The driver rolled his eyes. "If you ain't got a bus pass, you can buy a ticket."

Korra frowned, but dug into her pockets. She pulled out a few pieces and handed them to the driver. 

"Do I look stupid? What are these - a hundred years old?" He scowled and shoved the money back in Korra's hand. "Off."

"But-"

"Off. Now."

The crew had no choice. They walked off dejectedly. 

"So our money is no good?" Korra said. "This universe is stupid."

"We should follow it," Opal replied. 

The bus had started driving away, but with traffic, they might be able to keep up with it if they ran. 

"Oh no no no," Hattori started waving his hands. "No way I'm running."

Korra and Opal started off down the street, and the rest started to follow. 

"Hey! What did I just say!" The Chief called out to them, but no one was listening to him. "Fuck, I'm too old for this." He gave in finally, dashing off after them.

After what seemed like hours, the crew finally stopped, having seen the bus stop in front of a large building where many people, almost all consisting of young people and some adults, entered it, including the figure that caught their attention.

One who turned her head to look at some others, showing she looked just like…

“That’s me! We found me!” Korra said, happy they already found her doppelganger from this universe. “Though what is up with those clothes? And the hair?” She asked, just noticing how different this version of her looked before entering the front doors.

“That’s all fine and good, but we may have ran into a bit of a roadblock.” One-Arm Kya brought up, pointing with her single thumb at a nearby sign which the others looked at.

“Republic City _High School?_ ” Thuy said, having read it.

“Wait, so this Korra is younger and still in school? Does that mean we’re in school too?” Bolin asked, pointing at his brother before rubbing his fingers together a bit embarrassed. “Because… Me and Mako… we never really…”

“Went to school, how hard is it to say that?” Mako finished, though even he admitted he felt bad for never going to school due to both brothers being forced to live on the streets after their parents died.

“Still, me in school? I must be SO BORED.” Korra noted, surprised to actually see a version of herself in a school. The only school she went to was for bending and being the Avatar thanks to the White Lotus.

“Actually, it’s more fun than you think, just have to give it a chance, maybe you might find something you like.” Asami said with a smile as she held Korra’s hand. “And if you and the boys are here, that must mean I’m here too.”

“And me and Thuy!” Opal said, putting her arm around her gal pal. “Though this is different for me too as I was actually homeschooled.”

“Still, we can’t wait for classes to be over with because " _You-Know-Who_ " may be in this universe and looking for this universe’s Korra.” Kya pointed out as Sami shook her head..

“I don’t know, her energy is… back to being that weird form, like it’s far away, but still different… maybe perhaps more than before.” She said before Lin herself gave a rather surprising laugh, like one her mother would give.

“Guys, I don’t like it when she laughs like that.” Bolin said, rather afraid at what was going through the female Chief’s mind.

“Sorry about that, but I think we may have an easy way to get all of us into that school.” She said, giving a glimpse at the other versions of Kya and Hattori. “Something I think both of you are familiar with.”

* * *

“Police Chief Beifong, what are you doing here? Who are these people? And what’s up with that attire?” The Principal asked, rather shocked to see who he thought was the real Chief of Police, if only he knew of multiverse theory.

“Something my mother likes me wearing.” Lin deadpanned before smoothly transitioning with her plan, sitting across from the principal, having realized whose alternative universe version she was talking to, having seen his nameplate. “Now, listen here Mr. Raiko, we’ve gotten some… possible information that a serial killer is on the loose and is headed towards this school.”

Raiko’s eyes widened behind his glasses, dabbing a handkerchief against his head as a bead of sweat dripped down it. “Oh no, you mean "The Equalist Ripper Murders" have started again?”

“What?!” Hattori asked out loud, both realizing that the version of him was still alive and that he might be in jail. “Wait, I’m-” He tried saying, only for One-Arm Kya to cover his mouth.

“Sorry, he’s, ah… kinda still peeved he shares the same first name as the Ripper.” She lied, hoping the foolish principal would buy it.

“OH, sorry to hear that. Thank the spirits I got out of being President before those murders happened.” Raiko said, at least thankful that was one thing the woman who beat him in the elections had to deal with.

“And no, it’s not him.” Lin noted, not noticing the slight look she got from Raiko as she continued. “We believe this killer is targeting one of your students, you may know her as the Avatar?”

“Korra Nanouk?” Raiko asked in a shocked manner to which Lin herself was caught off guard by this Korra having a last name, giving a quick glance to the one she knew hurriedly nodding along with it.

“Ye-yes, her. Now, we don’t wanna raise any alarms, so what I’m proposing is me and some of my fellow officers-”

“Including the two sets of twins who look like Ms. Asami Sato and Nurse Kya Kisu-Ahnah?” The principal pointed out at the two versions of each woman as Lin sighed, looking at them.

“YES, be undercover as teachers and students here, to try scoping out and hopefully find this killer before she strikes.”

“Okay, that’s… erm, a serious plan of yours. Mind if you indulge me on who this killer looks like?” Raiko asked, rather afraid that not even two years as principal and already there’s a killer on the loose that might make him look bad.

“Trust me, you’ll know who she is when you see her.” Sami pointed out, going along with Lin’s plan.

“So, can we trust you to keep this little operation on the down low, maybe turn the other cheek if needed?” The Chief asked, her steely light green eyes focused on Raiko’s frightened beady eyes, moving his head up and down in his frightened form of way.

“Y-YES- erm…” He tried coughing, putting on a braver voice. “Yes, yes I will allow this to go on.”

“Thanks a bunch, now…” Lin began pointing out the younger members of the crew. “These junior officers will be undercover as students and will need to be in _EVERYONE_ of Korra’s classes, maybe some of her friend’s too, just to play safe. Same applies to me and these three…” She said, pointing out the two Kya’s and Hattori. “We’ll be the teachers in the classes Korra goes to-

“That might be a problem.” Raiko had to say, raising a finger up as Lin gave him a glare.

“How so?”

“Ah, well, well some of her teachers just so happened to have gotten some food poisoning, both of the female gym teachers and our agriculture teacher, so some substitute teachers are needed, but you have more than enough senior officers.” The glasses-wearing man pointed out as Lin shrugged.

“Alright then, me and… Katara will be the gym teachers…” She began, looking at One-Arm Kya who was surprised that she’d be using her mother’s name while the Chief looked at her healer lover and her brother from another universe. “My partner Yue will be the Agriculture teacher-"

"I thought Nurse Kya was your partner?" Raiko interrupted, now just getting on the Chief's nerves.

"Yue's my POLICE partner, not LIFE partner like Kya, focus man! And Hattori... he’ll be the janitor.” Lin thought of, with Kya rather liking being able to use the name of her uncle’s first love and the moon spirit while Hattori... was offended at what he was given.

“EXCUSE ME?! Why the fuck am I the janitor?!”

“Because you’re blind in one eye and have tons of scars, you can easily look like every creepy janitor in a mover.” Lin pointed out. While Hattori was about to react with such a comparison, even if he hated to admit it was true, Raiko pointed up his finger, having something in mind.

“Actually, if he knows his stuff…” Raiko began, looking at Hattori. “Our Sex-Ed teacher does need an assistant aide, if you wouldn’t mind.” He asked to which Hattori sighed.

“Eh, I guess it wouldn’t hurt helping your teacher out with some little bastards, teaching them all about that…” Hattori said before stopping and realizing something. “Question, what’s “Sex-Ed”?”

Raiko blinked his eyes twice at the rather snarky man. “Sexual education, didn’t you learn that while you were in school?”

Hattori’s entire face blushed as he swore Lin, One-Arm Kya, Bolin, Thuy and Korra were snickering at him, the man with the different eyes stewing his anger as he shut his eyelids tightly before stepping over to Bolin and slapping him upside the head as the earthbender whined in pain.

“I was homeschooled, thank you very much.” The metalbender gritted the lie through his teeth before taking a deep breath, opening his eyes. “BUT, I think that I got enough experience to help your teacher teach these kids a thing or two about… _sexual education_.”

“Ah, okay, perfect. If you all wait a bit, I can get you Korra and her little friend’s schedules, show you all around the property while class is in session, hopefully let you guys get started as soon as class tomorrow begins. I’ll be back” Raiko smiled, happy to be of some actual help to who he thought was the Lin he knew and her officers as he left the crew alone in the office before Lin could ask if he could do it sooner. 

“Spirits, I can’t believe that actually worked.” Asami said, looking at Lin. “Did you think it was going to work Lin?”

“Honestly, I thought 50/50 odds that it’d work.” The Chief said in a matter of fact tone. “But hey, mother didn’t raise no idiot, too bad I couldn’t get him to do it sooner.”

“Do you really think we can be undercover long enough for at least two days to protect myself from dark me?” Korra asked, looking at the others. “I mean, you older guys-”

“Watch how you talk…” One-Arm Kya threatened herself as the Avatar took notice, feeling the glare.

“You LOVELY and YOUNG looking adults is one thing…” Korra tried to save face with a cutesy tone. “BUTTTT… what about us?” She said, pointing out herself, Asami, Sami, Mako, Bolin, Opal and Thuy. “Aren’t we a little too old to be in school?”

“And we don’t even have the proper fashion!” Bolin noted himself as the Chief realized this, facepalming herself.

“Fuck me, he’s right. We’d be too obvious…” She droned out before noticing outside the school’s window, looking through it.

Across the school was what looked like some clothing store and next to it was another shop claiming they’d buy old antiques, gold, silver and old coins. That got the gears in her head turning as Kya looked outside and too got where her lover was getting at, looking at Korra.

“Hey Korra, you still have those pieces on you?” She asked, to which Korra nodded. “Okay, everyone else, check to see how much you got on you, think we may have a way to get around our currency issue.”

* * *

Dark Korra shut her eyes as her head throbbed. Even the purple light from the crystal was enough to make her thoughts feel like they were exploding. Her body ached from Azula's attack, but she had to pull through. Unlike the rest of the crew, she didn't have two healers with her at her command. 

She slowly opened her eyes, squinting at the world around her. This one sure was just as different as the last.

"Great," she muttered. She walked out from the dark corner in the shadow of the building, looking out at the streets ahead of her. "Some modern universe."

People threw a few glances at her as they walked past. Judging by the way they were dressing and acting, she sure was the odd one out. She ignored them. It's not like it was the first time that was the case. 

Republic City still was roughly similar, but so much more confusing. There were too many traffic lights, too many street signs and too many loud, obnoxious lights and billboards. She didn't even know what half the things they advertised were.

She had a vague idea of which way to head, but the energy of the Avatar that she was seeking was difficult to pinpoint in all this noise. She was no stranger to electrical devices every now and then, but this world was brimming with electricity everywhere. When she searched for Korra's energy, the interference sounded like static in her mind.

" _Focus..._ " Sha-Garou said. 

"I am doing."

" _Focus harder._ "

She rolled her eyes at the spirit. 

" _I know you're doing that._ " he said. 

"Good. Now shut up."

" _I would if you were doing your job._ "

"I would do my job if you would shut up."

In the midst of the argument she lost track of the Avatar. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and headed down the sidewalk between two skyscrapers. The path narrowed into an alley, and the tall buildings shadowed the light from the billboards here. 

"Great. Now where to?" she muttered to herself, not failing to hear the snark remarks from the spirit in her mind. 

Then, she frowned. 

"Hush a minute," she said. 

" _Oh, not this again._ "

"For real, shut up. Listen." 

The spirit stopped talking for a moment to hear what she was talking about. They could faintly hear two people's voices. 

"I'm gonna go see," Dark Korra said. 

" _Don't you dare. You have a task to do, remember?!_ "

"After."

The spirit relented, letting the Dark Avatar round the corner of the alley to see what the commotion was about. 

"Last time I'm gonna say this, bitch. Hand me your purse."

"Please, don't do this!" Dark Korra could make out the woman in the dimly lit alley. She was facing in her direction while the man she was talking to had her back to the shadowbender. "I need to make rent this month. I can't give you anything!"

"You're full of shit."

Dark Korra squinted, trying to figure out what the man was holding. His hand was being obscured by his torso. 

"Please..." the woman whimpered. "Don't."

The man held his arm up towards her and she started shaking. Slowly, she held her purse out to him and he snatched it, before turning on his heel and running. 

Unbeknownst to him, Dark Korra was waiting for him in the shadows, and before he could pass her she leaped out, wrapping a shadow hand around his neck and stopping him in his tracks. He struggled against it, and she heard the metallic clank at her feet. He dropped his knife. 

"What sort of coward intimidates people with this shit blade?" Dark Korra drove her foot down onto the knife. The feeble metal snapped in two under her force. 

"Ghh..gak..." 

"Yeah-yeah. I hear you." She grabbed the purse, yanking it out of his hand. 

" _Kill him..._ " Sha-Garou said. 

Dark Korra looked at the robber. He wasn't a man after all. He looked too young, and the blisters around his face indicated that he had some habits he shouldn't be proud of. 

"N-no," she said. "He's just a kid."

" _Kill him. Make him answer for his crimes._ "

"He needs help. Not death." 

" _KILL HIM._ " Sha-Garou commanded, but Dark Korra insisted she was right, and slowly unraveled the shadow away from the young man's neck. 

He gasped for breath, holding his bruised throat. He looked up at Dark Korra, eyes full of fear as she looked deep into them with her own red eyes.

“Clean your life up, or I swear to Yue, I'll find you, and I won’t hold back…” She began before the young man began scurrying away from the alley as fast as he humanly could. 

She walked the purse back up to the woman, who hid behind a broken lamp post, having watched the whole thing go down. She heard the shadowbender talking to herself and she was convinced she was mad. 

Dark Korra held the purse out to her. 

"Th-Thank you." The woman said, hesitantly taking the bag from her. 

"Don't take shortcuts through alleys," Dark Korra said. "Stick to the main roads."

The woman nodded, before hurrying away back into the city. 

" _What. The fuck. Was THAT?_ " Sha-Garou asked. 

"What?"

" _You disobeyed me. Again._ "

"I'm not killing a drugged up teenager."

“ _You can’t be serious!_ ”

“I couldn’t, he didn’t need to die, he needed help!”

" _OH, but you were fine draining a toddler of her Avatar powers and lifeforce?_ "

Dark Korra gulped. She stared into the darkness of the alley, remembering the moment vividly. 

" _You were fine killing her parents in front of her while she wailed... and screamed... and yelled for her mother. Do you think she understood why her father fell on the floor and didn't get back up when she cried?_ "

The shadowbender clenched her fists, shutting her eyes, trying to get the image of her younger self crying out for her parents as she struggled in the shadowbender’s hands. 

" _Do you think she knew what the red thing coming out of his chest was? And why it was pooling around him?_ " 

A tear rolled down Dark Korra's cheek. ".. shut up." Her throat tightened as she thought about what she’d done.

" _See?_ " She could _feel_ the spirit grin. " _You're capable of doing all that. That was ALL YOU. You wanted to do it…_ ” 

At that moment, she noticed a broken mirror leaning on the wall, seeing herself in it’s reflection, now seeing what she chose to become.

“ _That’s it Korra, take a good look! However cleverly you sneak up on the mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye…_ ” She damned the spirit as his words spoke true. “ _Remember your anger for Guan and why you're here - you're doing this for revenge and revenge is never pretty. You accepted that when you accepted me._ "

The Dark Avatar nodded, but her thoughts were drifting away from what the spirit was saying to all those she took power from, those who had to witness what she did. It wasn't like he didn't notice. 

" _Focus on what Guan did to you. What he did to Asami, to Yasuko. Soon, you'll set things right and you'll be the most powerful Avatar in all the universes._ "

She pushed all her feelings of remorse to the side. Sha-Garou was right. A little longer and everything will be righted. 

For a moment, she had the sense that she had no choice but to believe the spirit. It was too late now for second thoughts. What was done was already done. 

"I'll try looking for the Avatar again," she said, trying to sense Korra's energy in all this mess. 

Sha-Garou smiled in her mind. " _Good little Avatar, GOOD..._ "

* * *

“So, guess we haven’t really had the… time to talk to each other…” Kya began talking as she started disrobing out of her clothes to try out those that had caught her attention in the clothing shop.

Outside of the changing room where the healer was in happened to be her one armed counterpart, having already found what she was looking for as she sat on a chair as she listened to the healer.

One-Arm Kya chose to wear a blue and white sports jacket that she knew had to be altered around the right sleeve to suit her, along with a matching pair of track pants, sneakers and socks, One-Arm Kya was still going to keep her collar, the simple dark blue cap she found matched it.

“With all the crazy shit that’s been happening with different universes, versions of us and a corrupted Avatar, can’t say the idea ever came to mind.” The Bloodbender noted, this whole experience of her and her partner joining up in this surreal journey was certainly not what they expected.

After getting the schedules of this universe’s Korra and her friends, what classes they were to go to at certain times and all that, the crew first made their way over to that antique store where they offered to sell what old pieces and coins they had on them.

To their amazement, not only did the owner of the shop offer far more than they were expecting, on the count of what they had was considered highly rare in this day and age, but the bills of Yuan they had was also accepted as currency, even if the image of Avatar Aang on them shouldn’t have fit with the more modern aesthetic of the universe.

They all chalked it up as Aang having the same taste in fashion in both universes. 

With the tens of thousands of Yuan they left the antique store with, all of the crew then went into the clothing store next door to try finding some articles of clothing that’d let them blend in this new environment, within a reasonable budget of course.

“True…” Kya herself agreed with her other self, trying to put on one of these newer “Push-Up Bra’s”, something she had to get used to as she never wore one before, having always wrapped up her breasts. “So, what is like in your universe, being a cop?”

“Well, it can be hard work, as I'm sure your… lover could attest to.” One-Arm Kya answered, it clear from how she worded her term for Lin that she still had some stuff to get used to.

“Tell me about it, you have NO IDEA how hard it was to even get Lin to lighten up all these years and admit her feelings for me, especially with Hattori-” She stopped her words as she hooked in the back of her bra, realizing what she was about to say.

“Being the Equalist Ripper? Yeah, could say the same about your Beifong.” The Bloodbender brought up, still trying to get a grasp on it.

Kya felt like she had to know the truth about the “Lin Hanzo” she briefly heard about, how things came to be due to different events happening.

“What was she like in your universe, Lin… Hanzo?” 

“You want me to be honest, or try sugarcoating the more bitchy comments of mine?”

“Do as you please.”

“Well, since you asked, she sounded different from your Lin. And didn’t act like she had a stick up her ass half the time…” One-Arm Kya remembered, one moment coming to mind. “In fact, I remember when Lin was brought into interrogation for the first time that she…” She tried to think of the proper term to describe the Lin she knew, not the one she has been fighting alongside with. “... she was her own person.”

* * *

_One-Arm Kya was in the same room as Chief Hattori as they witnessed Lin Hanzo flash that smile, turning her head to show the scars on the right side of her face as she sat there in a red/black/gold hooded jacket similar to her alternative universe brother’s, her white top under it bloodied from assaulting some prisoners earlier._

_"... we'd have to go back five years, before... well... I became so damn pretty."_

_But there weren’t just the two scars on her chin like her prime universe counterpart, the entire right side of her face looked like somebody slashed it up with a blade, as was the fact that it seemed like someone used said blade to stab Lin Hanzo’s eye right out of her socket._

_"But before I do, would you mind doing a girl a favor and please undo the cuffs?" She held his hands out to Hattori. "I have no intention of doing anything stupid. I just want to feel more comfortable."_

_Kya herself made sure her opinion was clear. "We don't remove cuffs from violent prisoners. You get to keep yours."_

_Lin was disappointed. "Violent?"_

_“We saw you stomp down your foot onto the throat of a guy three times larger than you enough times to turn it into paste, then beat his sister within an inch of her life before chucking her in front of an oncoming truck, that kind of qualifies as ‘violent’.” Hattori himself noted, seeing Lin take a deep breath having heard his and Kya’s words._

_"I suppose I don't blame either of you for thinking of me as some kind of... monster, perhaps.” She then looked into Hattori’s mismatched eyes with her single light green eye. “But remember you don't know me, brother, and you want me to talk, don't you?"_

_The Chief's brows furrowed as she called him brother again, but she was making a valid point. She didn't want him to refuse questioning. "I will do you this one favor," he said. "Any sudden movements, and your toned ass is getting cuffed and thrown back in your cell, got it?"_

_Lin smiled and nodded._

_Hattori sighed and undid her bindings as Kya kept a close eye on… well, Lin’s eye, remembering it from nights before, seeming so... different._

_“Much better,” She rotated his wrists around, stretching them out. “Where were we?”_

_“Focus, Ms. Hanzo.” Kya was getting impatient. “You were telling us about your shadowbending.”_

_“”Ah,” she chuckled. “Yes, well, years ago I lived a happy life with my wife as a non-bender. A simple life. My wife’s name...” she sighed and closed her eye as she remembered the beautiful black haired woman with those dark eyes, then the girl back at Asuki’s brothel she met. Even from across the table both cops could tell she was remembering something. “Her name was Sakura. So full of life and wisdom. She loved getting Moshi for her birthday.” She paused for a moment, as though those days flashed before her eye._

_“That’s very touching, but get to the point.”_

_Lin brought her attention back to the Chief. “Then, brother, I caught word of the Equalist movement.” Her sad look turned to anger. “And like so many of those damned fools I believed every word that fraud Amon said. The bastard, he was a scheming, lying, masked motherfu-”_

_“Alright, Hanzo, settle down.”_

_Lin calmed herself again when Kya said that. “I’m sorry. So, as you can guess, I became an Equalist. Hated the benders around me, mindlessly, believed everything I heard as the truth.” He shook his head. “And then the unthinkable happened. My own wife…”_

_Hattori could see where this was going, but he was losing his patience as was Kya. This had nothing to do with shadowbending. “Alright, you got to speed things along and get to the point of the story.”_

_At this, Lin slammed her fist on the table, her single light green eye turning red in anger. “Have some fucking compassion! You don’t know what it feels like! I would have thought you, of all people, would try to understand me!”_

_The Chief was taken aback, quickly glancing and mouthing ‘Of all people, the fuck?’ at Kya, then he looked back at Lin as he brought out the cuffs. “I told you no sudden movements. Your cuffs are going back on, Kya, get ready to freeze them to her-.”_

_“No! No…” she held his hands up in defeat, her eye turning back to light green. “Sorry just… let me finish. Please.”_

_Kya let out an exasperated sigh. “Get on with it.”_

_She nodded his head, silently thanking her, while also giving a courteous glance at how beautiful she thought the one armed bender was. “My own wife… turns out Sakura was a firebender, a late bloomer. I saw her throw a little flame around in her hands… lighting up candles with just her finger… all the while laughing and giggling at something she never knew she was. It was like watching pure happiness.” Lin shook her head, something coming to mind, an odd smile on her face. “Not that I knew what bending was like, the family trait skipped a generation.”_

_Then the look on her face soured once more, knowing what was next._

_“It was happiness that was too wonderful to have been tainted by the cruelty in this world.” She said before taking a deep breath, holding her head up with her hand, elbow on the desk as she continued. “I realized I was so wrong, so foolish. I also remembered what the Equalists would do if one of their followers had a bender for a partner. Spirits, I didn’t even know how they were with same sex couples.” The memories coming back to mind started making things harder for Lin to continue, but she pushed through._

_“I tried everything to keep Sakura in hiding, told her to stay with her mother, but of course the bastards just had to find out. One day, I walked down to the docks near the Avatar statue, asked by a galpal of mine who was also an Equalist to meet up with some buddies there….”_

_Lin then turned her head, it clear the memories were taking the biggest toll on her, judging by her eye tearing up. “Turns out it was a trap… it was a damn trap…”_

_Seeing her eye tear up a bit took both Hattori and Kya by surprise. They would never have guessed the vicious Equalist Ripper could get emotional, but then again we all have someone we love, or loved. If this was an act, it was a damn good one._

_“She’s dead, brother. She’s dead because of me.” She cast her glance down onto the table. Her voice had started shaking, sobs forming before she began whispering something to herself. “Oh spirits, I can’t do this…” Even Kya had become concerned she wouldn’t be able to carry on._

_“Are you alright, Lin?” She looked at Hattori, who nodded towards the glass of water on the table. “Do you need a drink maybe?” She was the police lieutenant, not a therapist._

_Without warning, Lin raised his head again, looking straight up at Kya. Both she and Hattori flinched, seeing his light green eye had changed color once more, but now, it was bright scarlet. It looked bloodshot, and its edges had gone yellow. “Ms. Lin may not be fit to tell you the rest of the story,” she spoke in a voice not of her own, it being of a male’s that was deep and unnervingly low. Something big had changed about her, and both Kya and Hattori were struggling to understand it as Lin seemed to turn her head to Hattori. “I’ll carry it on for her.”_

* * *

“If you don’t mind me asking, was that how your Hattori was?” One-Arm Kya asked, remembering that first time hearing Sha-Garou’s voice in place of Lin Hanzo’s.

Kya, who had come out in what looked like a sleeveless dark blue turtleneck sweater, a long white skirt and sandals. “I don’t know per say, I only got second hand knowledge of how that went in my universe, Lin and Toph informed me of what happened after he escaped.” She explained before moving around in place. “Think this suits me?”

“As some free loving spirited version of me, works just fine. I’d go for it.” The Bloodbender answered, admitting that she actually pulled the look off, though that may be because of the extra arm she didn’t have. “Did the same happen to Hattori, him trying to save his girl, but he… you know.” The Bloodbender didn’t want to even think of the man she knew accidentally stabbing someone he loved with a sword.

“Worse, it happened to his wife and child.”

One-Arm Kya suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her gut, looking at the similar look on Kya’s face. “Wha-he… He actually had a wife? And a child?” She asked, the whole idea of the Chief she knew actually managing to have a family, after what happened with Izumi, it threw her in a complete loop.

“A daughter actually. She was the earthbender he tried to hide along with his wife... “ Kya explained, crossing her arms. “When I first met him in that bar, I noticed he had no energy or aura for me to feel. For the longest time, I always thought it was because he died and came back from the dead, but now…” She shook her head. “I think it was the loss of his family that caused it to happen.”

That got the bloodbender nodding, her single hand to her chin. “Funny, my aura reading skills are a bit rustier, especially compared to yours, but I thought the same thing about Lin back at the bar that night. Now I’m thinking the same may be true about her.”

Then a thought came up in One-Arm Kya’s mind. “Now Lin, your Lin I mean. What is it you see in her, it can’t be… well, how blunt she is.”

“No, it’s not that.” Kya said before shrugging a slight bit with a smile. “Okay, maybe the “Stone cold bitch” persona can be kind of attractive at times, but that’s not why I love her.” She then remembered all those years ago. “Ever since we were kids, I never felt any attraction towards boys, only girls… and Lin was my first and longest crush.”

The waterbender sighed as she turned around to enter the changing room to get the new clothes off her body and put back on her regular clothes. “Her childhood, from what I can gather, is different from the Hattori you know. She didn’t have it easy with Suyin and ESPECIALLY TOPH growing up, only in recent years have the three of them been getting along. But when I was around her, she would just break out of that shell she formed up, be happy for a change. Those eyes of hers, the way they shined…”

Then she remembered when she thought she lost her. “Then she and Tenzin began going out.”

“WHAT?! Really? Tenzin and Lin? WOAH, that’s a big surprise.” One-Arm Kya had to laugh at the idea of her younger brother actually being with Lin, let alone the one who later turned out to become the Equalist Ripper. “Oh man, your little brother must have had one brass set. In my universe, he began seeing Pema immediately, love at first sight and all that crap.”

That got Kya to give a laugh. “It’s funny, I remember being so jealous that Tenzin, well, stole Lin from me.” Kya admitted, remembering those feelings she felt seeing the two together, which in hindsight, explained why she always picked on him more in their teen years before getting back to reality. “And mind you, he was NOT a bad boyfriend. In fact, he got the same results with her that I did tenfold and she actually got him to not be all “I must live up to my father’s legacy because I’m the kid of his who could airbend!” a lot of the time.”

“Nice to know that aspect of him wasn’t exclusive to my universe.” One-Arm Kya snarked.

“So yeah, my brother was dating the girl I crushed on hard, awkward as it’ll ever be, but they were happy and I couldn’t take that away…” Then Kya remembered that night. “Then twenty years ago, the topic of children came up.”

That mention of the topic got the cop’s attention as she watched Kya come out of the dressing room back in her Water Tribe clothes, seeing the sadness in her eyes.

“They had been together for a long while and my brother was considering even proposing to Lin. But before then, the idea of them having children came up and Lin told him she couldn’t see herself as a mother.”

* * *

_“Wh-what?” A younger Tenzin asked, feeling like all the airbending in the world couldn’t stop him from feeling like he was freefalling from the sky due to the sudden weight put on him once he heard those words._

_“I… I can’t see myself as a mother, I… don’t… think I’d want to raise a child.” An also younger Lin reiterated to the Airbending master’s surprise as they stood on a balcony in the Air Temple under the moonlight._

_“But… how can you say that? I’ve seen you around children, playing with them and helping ‘em out, you’d make a great mother.” Tenzin tried to reason, but Lin shook her head. The idea of even having to carry one in her womb scared her as she turned her back to him._

_“But those aren’t my children, they’re either some Air Acolytes or random kids on the street amazed to see the daughter of Toph Beifong!”_

_That last part got the airbender’s attention, slowly approaching her girlfriend from behind, ready to put his hands on her shoulders._

_“Is… Is this because of things between you and-”_

_“I TOLD YOU, I DON’T WANT CHILDREN!” The metalbender cried out, pulling away from her boyfriend, turning to look at him as her steely light green eyes watered, not wanting to truly answer the question he asked._

_She didn’t want to be her mother and screw up like her._

_She then took note of how chestfallen Tenzin was hearing this, the Beifong woman seeing the devastated look in his eyes. “I… I have to go home… have to go into work early… I’ll… I’ll see you tomorrow.”_

_With that, Lin left Tenzin alone on that balcony, not even putting to use her seismic sensing in her current state, or else she would have known that a brown haired Kya had been eavesdropping on the two, sensing both’s energy slowly fading, turning from her spot to see Tenzin take out a ring out of a pocket in his robe in silence._

_Kya knew at that moment what that ring meant._

* * *

“From there on, the energy in their love just… slowly drained away more and more.” Kya explained, shaking her head as she wiped a tear with her wrist. “Soon enough, Tenzin broke up with Lin to be with Pema, who knew what he was feeling and admitted her feelings for him.”

Then she remembered the massive freakout Lin had and what she did on the island, trying to have Pema arrested on some false charge.

“And let’s just say Lin didn’t take things so lightly.”

“Think I may have some kind of inkling.” One-Arm Kya noted, not in her usual snark filled tone, but one full of pity, realizing that in either universe, both Lin Beifong and Lin Hanzo suffered heartbreak and responded to it in different, yet somehow similar self-destructive manners, If Lin Hanzo’s was the more depressing of the two.

Hearing the remorse, Kya nodded, giving a sad smile. “I’m sure.” She then remembered what happened afterwards. “At that time, I still had my crush on Lin and knowing things would get worse if something wasn’t done, I offered to take her on a trip, just us two going around the Four Nations.” She explained, thinking to herself. “It was like when I went off on my own when I was 19, but this time, I took Lin with me… well, more like dragging her along with me.”

The grey haired woman had to snort and giggle at the memory of trying to pull on Lin’s arm to get her out of the police station, having already packed a bag for her and the Metalbender insisting she had to get back to work.

“But I convinced her and soon enough, we were walking among Ba Sing Se, checking out our mother’s home and the Northern Air Temples. Lin was still being stuffy as usual, but some of that old her was cracking through the shell that she formed up because of the break up, so it looked like it was working.” Kya explained before that night came up. “Then on our last night over on Ember Island…”

The healer remembered the night by the campfire, the night things between the two went in the direction neither were really expecting.

“Me and Lin, sitting by a campfire, we were talking and the topic of Tenzin OF COURSE came up.

* * *

_“... Am I to blame?” Lin asked Kya, her eyes focused on the campfire as it crackled, the embers slowly rising up into the sky. “Or was it all Tenzin’s fault?”_

_The waterbender nodded her head, rolling over near her friend. “Do you want my honest opinion?”_

_“Oh spirits, now I’m dreading it.”_

_“I think both of you are to blame.”_

_“What?!” Lin asked confused at the answer Kya gave, blinking madly. “He’s the one who broke up with me to be with that floozy Pema!”_

_“Hey, you asked for my opinion. I gave you it.” The healer said, sitting up next to Lin, unsure if she should admit it. “Look… I… I was there when you and Tenzin talked about… having kids.” She knew her friends' light green eyes looked in confused bewilderment, but felt the need to continue._

_“I know that I of all people shouldn’t be the one talking about heterosexual relationships, but from what I saw, both of you were to blame. Obviously you have issues with being a parent stemming from how your mother raised you and Su.”_

_Lin shook her head, not believing the response, though deep down, she was denying it. “Seriously?! No fucking way, that’s not-”_

_“Oh, come on, it’s plastered all over your face!” Kya called out, pointing at the two scars on her friend's face before realizing she made a bad move, choosing to grimace at what she said, turning away as Lin watched her in silence. “Sorry…”_

_Yet Kya continued anyway. “But… I do believe Tenzin is to blame too, obviously you two were together for a long time, but the idea of having kids before you’re even married, that’s kind of a rookie move, both in regular and same sex relationships. He expected a lot out of you, possibly bringing in a new generation of airbenders, and you clearly weren’t ready for that sort of commitment. Heck, I just wonder how you would have took him propos-”_

_As soon as she got mid-word, Kya covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from finishing that certain word, but she already knew she messed up._

_“He… Tenzin… was going to... propose to me?” Lin’s throat cracked out, her eyes widened at this development. She had no idea Tenzin was even thinking of marriage, that talk about kids was just something that happened to pop up… or at least she had thought so._

_Realizing there was no going back, Kya sighed. “Yes… I saw the ring, he was all set to do it underneath the stars… then what happened between you two happened and…” She shook her head, turning to her friend. “Lin, I’m so sorry, I should have told you, maybe if I didn’t have my stupid crush on you at the time-”_

_“You had a crush on me?”_

_Now the Waterbender was kicking herself like crazy for not keeping her mouth shut, she silently nodded before looking into her friend’s eyes_

_“I still do, you’re a wonderful woman Lin. You’ve always been and I brought you on this trip not just because I didn’t want you doing something stupid… but because I wanted to see the girl I liked all those years ago again, just being happy.”_

_Kya shook her head, looking back into the flames burning the woodpile they made._

_“But I think that may be-”_

_Before she could finish her words, the healer suddenly felt herself be rolled over on the towel she was on, just able to look up at Lin’s face before the metalbender collided her lips with hers, holding Kya in place as Lin kept at it._

_Once lip contact was broken, Kya looked up at her friend in shock. “Lin? What was-”_

_“Kya, I’m only asking this because I’m not sure if this is some deep rooted sexual conflict or I’m trying to forget the stupidass mistake both me and your brother made that we can’t take back, but… please… tonight…”_

_The Beifong woman looked at her, her eyes unsure of what she was feeling, but Kya could just tell from her energy alone that she needed to do this, just let it all out._

_“I need you, right now.”_

_The waterbender herself wasn’t sure if she was the right woman for this, as much as she loved Lin, she herself didn’t know at the time if what she was about to do was to help the younger woman through a rough time or if she was giving into her feelings._

_But one word sealed the deal for seemingly only that night._

_“Okay.”_

_Once that was said, Kya leaned up and kissed Lin back, holding her by the chin as both threw in as much as they could into the kissing, their tongues slipping through each other’s mouths, becoming entangled._

_Then Lin broke off the kiss as she reached down to the end of her white top, pulling it over her own head and threw it to the side before putting her mouth near Kya’s earlobe, nibbling on it softly._

_Something which earned a light moan from the waterbender as she undid the string to her top and let it fall, leaving her bare breasts out before slipping her own hands under Lin’s bra, seeking to slide it off._

_That got the metalbender to groan loudly at the touch of the waterbender’s hands against her nipples as Kya lowered Lin down, able to get the black bra off, seeing up close her friend’s light toned and fit body, especially compared to her own caramel toned shapely and curved body._

_“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this Lin…”_

_That got the Beifong woman to look into the waterbender’s teal eyes with her own light green ones, rubbing her thumb near her beauty mark._

_“Well, now’s the timeeaaAAHH…” She tried to say before moaning at feeling the waterbender’s healing hands glide almost softly down her stomach, slipping under her shorts and towards her womanly spot, knowing what was next._

* * *

“... _FUCK_ , and here’s me thinking I was nice in bed.” One-Arm Kya said in surprise at how things went from what Kya told, which the healer nodded.

“We spent that whole night exploring each other’s bodies, right until the dawn of the sun, thank the spirits, even the bad ones, we were on a private beach.” She said, thinking more. “And while the experience wouldn’t really lead to anything developing between us two for a long time, mainly because Lin going back to her work and me taking care of Mother after my father passed away not long after…”

The memory of Kya accidently revealing to her mother of what she had to do for Lin on that beach played in her mind like a mover. While she didn’t go into the graphic details, she remembered Katara, during one of the brief moments of happiness during her grief filled period, approving of her daughter’s choice to help a friend in need, even considering the circumstances of how it happened and that nothing seemed to come from it other than a simple one night stand. 

“I always kept that memory of the girl I loved coming back for that one night, allowing me to finally show how much I loved her.”

Kya then turned to her other self, seeing how into the story she was. “Lin’s true feelings didn’t really spark up until just after Hattori was arrested and after a little squabble between us two… she finally admitted the truth to herself, she finally decided to not keep that Lin I knew locked up, and we have not looked back since. That’s why I love her, because for all the little quips and anger moments… there’s a beautiful woman who just wants someone to love her for who she is, not as the harsh Chief of Police of Republic City… but just as Lin Beifong.”

After hearing all of that, One-Arm Kya gave a bit of a huff, but it wasn’t one intended to sound bad, rather, it was more humored and amused as she stood up, patting Kya’s arm. “Reminds me of why I loved Reiko so much, even if she wasn’t the typical “Girl”.”

“She sounded lovely from what you said about her.”

“Still is…” The bloodbender said before sighing. “Alright, let’s catch up with the others, probably thought we both fell into some hidden portal in the dressing booths.

That got Kya to laugh along with her other self, both happy that the other was there to share this moment with each other. “Won’t have no crystal to get us out of there…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the new chapter is up, WOO! So much to go over, the crew's time in the Medieval Universe is done with, gathering some more allies for the big battle, along with Chief Hattori just realizing he's gonna be a daddy AND both Fire Mother Ty Lee II and Master Air Monk Tenzin finding out something too late about Shadow Spirits, but what could it be? That's something for way later.
> 
> And yes, got us a modern universe, think 2020, sans fucking Covid and all the BS we've endured. Don't worry, bending is still a thing, so what sort of fun modern stuff will our out of time krew endure? Who knows, we'll see. And once again, Dark Korra and Sha-Garou's partnership is slowly faltering, down to outright toxic relationship levels, which... yeah, was on pupose. In fact, one song that rang into mind with these two was "10's" by Pantera, which is about drug use, but me and Coniine both pictured it being reused in a sense to describe a toxic relationship. And cause I myself am a fan of movies, the bit with Sha-Garou telling Dark Korra to look in the mirror to see herself is a reference to "Angel Heart".
> 
> Plus, got both Kya's some time focused on them, revealing some tidbits about their past, INCLUDING the first time Kya and Lin "Spent a night together" (Haha...) and the first actual appearence of Lin Hanzo, the Alt. Version of Lin from Chief Hattori and One-Arm Kya's universe who was born before Hattori, therefore having been given to the Hanzo's by Toph, growing up to become the Equalist Ripper herself in their universe.
> 
> Speaking of which, as for the mini-flashback of Lin Hanzo's interrogation, we wanted show how events of "Blood In..." were somewhat different in her universe. Plus, similar to how Prime Hattori was fancasted to be voiced by Brad Dourif while Chief Hattori would be voiced by John DiMaggio, same thing would happen with canon Lin (Or Prime Lin) being of course voiced by Mindy Sterling, while Lin Hanzo herself is fancasted to be voiced by a different actress, Allison Janney. (Hey, come on, she'd be perfect as a Alternative Universe Lin.).
> 
> So what about next chapter, what sort of futuristic stuff will our Krew endure, what are the Krew of this universe like? And why hasn't Wu appeared yet? Patience, patience, see you all next week!


	14. Chapter Thirteen- High School Woes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANOTHER EARLY CHAPTER?!? Consister this a early Christmas gift to you guys for enjoying the fic! Also, no Trigger Warnings this chapter, got us another breather, so we all good... Either way, give kudos, bookmark and review this chapter!

The rest of the crew were done with their disguises. They couldn't help thinking just how much more uncomfortable modern day clothes were.

Korra threw her cap on, still disgruntled at how tight jeans felt compared to her usual watertribe attire. She glanced over at Asami. Her eyes widened, seeing her fiancé in a leather jacket and tighter pants of the same material. 

"Wow," she said. Okay, maybe modern clothing wasn't that bad after all. 

Asami chuckled at this, she had a feeling Korra would love it. 

"Here's the schedules," Sami handed out the pieces of paper with their classes printed on them, clad in more conservative looking attire compared to Asami, a big hoodie sweater with a funny cat image, slacks and loafers, along with large glasses and her hair tied up in a pigtail with something called a “Scrunchy”. "Don't stick together too much to avoid suspicion. We couldn't slot all of us into her classes all at once since there's too many of us, so we're alternating between keeping an eye on this universe's Korra in groups."

The crew nodded. 

Korra skimmed through the classes. Some were subjects she'd never heard about, but this universe's Avatar was ever so slightly younger than her so surely they could handle it. "How hard could this be?" she said.

* * *

"Oh spirits, this _is hard_!" 

Korra, Asami and Sami stared at the crowds of people walking past them in the corridor. They had split up from the others, and now had gotten completely lost in the endless corridors of the school. When the bell rang, they were filled with angry 18 year olds and they could barely see where they were going anymore. 

"Where are we trying to get to?" The Avatar asked. 

"History," Sami called out, trying to push through the crowd. 

Asami stopped for a moment, spotting a student stopping by his locker. "Hi, excuse me, do you know wher-"

"Do I know you?" He slammed his locker door shut. 

"We're just trying to get to-"

He looked her up and down, a smile spreading on his face as Asami realized who this kid was. "Ayy, you look familiar. You the new kid?" He walked closer, making Asami take a step back. He held his hand out in a handshake. "How you doin'? I’m Tahno..." He winked, and that was enough for Korra to shove herself between them. 

"Hey, beat it!" 

He held his hands up in defense, seeing her seething expression. "Alright! Alright! Just was being nice..." 

He picked up his rucksack and blended into the crowd. 

"Korra! He was gonna tell us where to go."

"We can figure it out ourselves." She went back to follow Sami down the corridor. 

Asami rolled her eyes and went after them. After a few minutes, the corridors started to clear and they finally found their class. The teacher looked away from the board as they walked in. 

"You're three minutes late."

They froze a few moments, taking in the fact that their teacher was Tenzin, or at least this universe’s version of him. His red jumper, white shirt and tie made him look so different and yet it suited him. They also took notice he still had his blue arrow tattoos. 

"Sorry, Sir," Asami said. "We got a bit lost."

He nodded his head, rubbing his beard. "New students. Welcome." He motioned for them to sit down and they scanned the seats in the room. This world's Korra was sitting next to the two brothers, resting her head on her hand and doodling absentmindedly on her notebook. On her other side, was her girlfriend Asami, tapping her pen nervously as if she was impatient for the notetaking to start. 

"Spirits, I do seem like a nerd," Asami whispered. 

"So nothing's changed," Sami muttered back. 

"You're just insulting yourself too."

They sat down at the back of the class, waiting for the teaching to begin. 

* * *

Hattori hated this already. Even though he was supposed to be blending in as a teacher, he refused to wear the “smart” shirts and chinos the crew had offered him.

Instead he opted for what was called blue jeans, a dark long sleeve tee with what looked like some crazy skull image and hard to read name on it on the front, a vest looking to be made of the same material the jeans were made of, but colored black and black boots. He remembered the cashier said he must have been some “Old school metalhead” in his younger years, whatever in Agni’s name that was.

But the way Hattori saw it, if he was going to be forced to deal with angsty teenagers, he should at least be allowed to express himself too. That and he kind of liked the image on the shirt.

He reached the room with a few minutes to spare before class began. He took a deep breath and headed inside. His jaw dropped to the floor when he saw who he was going to be teaching with. 

"You must be the new teaching aide," she stood up, holding her hand out. He unfroze just enough to shake it. "I'm Izumi Honō, students call me Mrs. Honō, but you may call me Izumi."

He didn't say anything, too shocked. There was yet another version of the woman whose heart he broke like a fucking moron, standing there in… he didn’t know what to call it, it was like some long sleeved black buttoned up shirt that fit snug around her body, a simple red skirt with a slight slit, stockings and high heels. And she still wore those same gold rimmed glasses.

Even for someone pushing her mid-50's, Izumi pulled off the look beautifully. And dammit, he was hating himself so badly for being an idiot many years before.

"And you are?" she asked. 

"OH, erm..." For a moment, he struggled to remember his fake name having been lost in his thoughts. "Daisuke Fudo. Pleased to meet you." 

"Likewise," she smiled, before walking back to her desk and handing Hattori the notes for the lesson. "This is what we're doing today." 

He skimmed over the topics. It was Sex-Ed. He knew what sex was. This surely couldn't be as hard as they were making it out to be. Then his eyes widened at the amount of diseases listed. 

"We're... err... we're talking about all these?"

"Yes, the topic for today is safe sex."

He nodded. "Right, right..." 

Hattori then noticed Izumi looking him up and down. "That's an interesting attire you have on," she said. 

"Heh, yeah. Helps me relate to the kids more, but mainly I feel silly wearing suits."

She raised her eyebrows, giving quick notice to him sliding part of his sleeve over his arm, noticing a scar, if not more. "Haven't heard that before. Good for you."

The students started walking in, taking their seats dejectedly. They knew why they were here, and they weren't any happier than Hattori.

As they all poured in, Izumi started her lesson, while Hattori stood off to the side and flicked the powerpoint slides ever so often. He had an embarrassing moment where he didn't know how to use the clicker as he muttered curses to himself, and Izumi had to come up to him and show him, placing his finger on the button. 

He gulped and nodded. The little bit of contact made him feel insanely awkward, but she barely noticed it, and went back to teaching. 

They switched to a slide talking about STDs. 

"And of course, not all contraception protects you from these. It's why using a condom is the safest thing," Izumi started to explain, until a snigger came from the back of the class. 

"Do they come in large sizes?" 

Izumi was about to ignore it and carry on, when the rowdy student carried on. "Mrs. Honō, what's the largest one you've seen?"

"What was that?" Hattori questioned, taking notice of the gross disrespect the student showed the woman. “WHAT THE _FUCK_ DID YOU JUST SAY?!” He bellowed, quickly closing his hand as he stood, causing the metal desk and seat the student was on to forcibly pull towards him, all the other students reacted in surprise as he was now looking right into the Chief’s angry face, getting a good close look at both the good gold eye and the other blind one,

“DON’T. YOU. EVER be disrespecting Izumi Honō like that. She is a very kind and nice lady!” Hattori growled in anger as he pointed at a rather amused Izumi before pointing at the kid’s elbow. “If you so much as even think of another filthy thought about her, I will metalbend that metal plate out of your elbow, break your fucking legs with it, AND THEN THROW YOU THROUGH THAT FUCKIN' WALL!" He finished as he pointed at the wall behind the student.

The class went silent. Hattori’s voice seemed to echo off the walls as everyone stared at him in shock. He took a few breaths, slowly realizing he shouldn't have done that. 

Izumi cleared her throat. "Thank you, but I can discipline the student myself. In less violent methods." He turned back towards her, his face redder than an apple as he nodded and sat back down, pushing the student back in place.

“... i’m sorry, Izumi.” Was all Hattori could muster in a small tone as Izumi turned to the student.

"And you've just gotten yourself two weeks detention. I don't want to hear you for the rest of class."

The student slumped in his seat, but every so often threw a fearful glance at Hattori. 

Thankfully, the rest of the lesson ran smoothly, with most of the students too afraid to say anything else. Hattori just hoped no one saw him blush as Izumi started talking about how to put a condom on. Even so, it didn't feel too bad, until it was time for the demonstration. His eyes widened when he saw her pull out a banana from under her desk. 

"Daisuke, could you hold this?" 

She held the fruit out to him and he had no choice but to hold on to it. She grabbed a condom packet, tearing it open and explained how to slide it on as Hattori gulped, holding the banana out in front of him as she carried on with her demonstration. 

"Ok thank you, you can put it in the bin over there." She motioned to the corner of the class, before smoothly moving on to the next point. 

Hattori threw the fruit away quickly, shaking his head slightly. That was way more than he signed up for.

"Alright, that would be all for today," Izumi said, just as the bell rang and the students started filtering out. 

Hattori took a moment to regain himself. “Thank you whatever spirit was listening…” He mouthed to himself before looking at her, feeling really bad about what he threatened the kid with. “... sorry about that little… outburst, my mother always taught me to respect women.”

Izumi could tell, for as quick to the trigger the half blind man was, she was able to sense his apology was genuine.

"It’s alright. I do thank you for the help with the lesson," she said. "I know it's a little weird, but they need to know."

He nodded. "Yeah... yeah. Definitely." He chuckled. "We totally didn't have this kind of teaching when I was in school."

She smiled. "It's crazy how things have changed for the better, in more ways than one. I wouldn't have been able to marry my wife back then, and yet here we are."

That last bit got Hattori’s attention. "Wait... Y-your wife?" He stuttered. Okay, she's married, should be all good he thought to himself.

"Yes. Hatori Beifong."

He raised his brows. “ _What?_ ” There was no way Izumi said what he thought she said.

"Yes, yes I know," Izumi carried on, seeming to be used to explaining this. "Some people think she’s the Equalist Ripper, but there's… much more to that story, trust me."

The way she finished saying that last part in a restrictive manner however eluded a still dumbfounded Hattori. "The... Equalist Ripper? Hatori... Beifong?" 

"Yes, surely you must have heard?" She asked to which he had to snap out of it.

"OH! Yes! Of course! Sorry, I’m just full of silly mistakes today, heh-heh..." It was a lot to process at once. Izumi's wife in this universe was... a version of him. Hattori could be a gender neutral name if you took out the second “T”, sure, but to think that he’d actually would have married Izumi in this life... it was strange.

And he had so many questions for this version of himself - questions that he hoped would help him out in his own life. If he were to ever go back to it. If he even survives this universe. Though all these questions could just be on account of Hattori happy to be in a universe where he didn’t die in it.

"B-B-But, congratulations!" He said finally. 

"Thank you." She packed up her notes. "You can come over for dinner tonight if you want. I'll just have to check with her, but we'll be cooking tonight."

He smiled. "Sounds great. During lunch period, if she’s cool with it, you can give your address." 

She bowed her head before walking out. 

Hattori let out a sigh once she was out of earshot. Visiting Izumi wasn't part of their plans, but he had to see this version of himself, or herself for real. 

* * *

Mako, Thuy, Opal and Bolin headed into their next class, looking for this universe's versions of themselves. It was supposed to be math and they sat down next to the window, waiting for everyone else to come in. 

Mako had on a simple buttoned up shirt and red tie, black pants and small rimmed glasses, while Bolin went a little far out, having grabbed some shiny green and gold shirt and cap, figuring both matched along with tan shorts and sneakers. Lin had compared him to an old piece of jewelry Hou-Ting used to wear when she was alive.

Going for a more simple look, Opal decided to go with a pretty green and silver sunflower dress she saw on display, reminding her so much of Zaofu, along with pretty green slip-on shoes. There was also the lovely gold necklace around her neck that Bolin had picked out for her as a “Early Wedding Gift”.

Thuy took some inspiration from Hattori, choosing to go with a sleeveless white shirt that looked like someone splattered neon colors all over it, tight black jeans, sneakers and some spiked metal bracelets, which she thought would be perfect to metalbend with. She also noticed what was called a Irish Brimmed Hat and put it on, knowing that Mako would love it.

And she was happy to know he did love it on her.

"Not gonna lie, I kinda wanna see what I look like 'ere," The mohawked girl said, keeping an eye out for herself. 

"Oh! Oh! Do you think I'm a popular kid?" Bolin asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question. "I bet I'm in all the drama classes."

Mako rolled his eyes. "Keep dreaming."

"Hey, I can be an actor. Right Opal?"  
  
Opal giggled seeing her fiancé try defending himself. "After that performance back in that animal universe, I'd say so." 

Finally, they saw their group of people walk in. First they spotted this world's Bolin, a tall, beefy guy with a single strand of gelled up hair dropping over his forehead. In his hand, he held a script. 

"I told you!" Bolin whispered to the others. 

Then they saw Mako, Opal and oddly enough, this universe’s Wu walk in, but no sign of Thuy. 

The metal bender sulked for a moment, watching as the students took their seats. 

"Sorry again about your breakup, Mako," they heard Wu say.

The firebender shrugged. "It wasn't meant to be. She moved away to where her family came from and it’d have been too hard for both of us. Thuy and I both agreed it was better this way."

Both Mako and Thuy felt so caught off guard hearing that, the girl reaching out to her love’s hand, grabbing it as she felt like she took a knife to the heart, not wishing it was true, that herself here broke up with Mako to be with this universe’s version of the Fire Sanctuary.

"Hey at least I get more time with my bro now!" Bolin jokingly punched his arm as he sat down.

Wu rubbed the firebender’s back, much to the crew’s surprise. “Hey, remember Mako, ol’ Wu is here if you need anything.”

Mako smiled. “Thanks Wu.”

The real Mako watched closely, squinting. Did he see his alter self blush? The fuck?!

The rest of this universe’s crew walked in too, with Korra and Asami taking a seat behind them, just in time before the teacher walked in. 

"Alright settle down kiddos!" An excited, animated man walked in, and it was none other than Bumi. His hair was as wild in this universe as it was in their own. His tie was dishevelled, and they were pretty certain he had a curry stain on his jumper. 

The teacher dropped down a stack of papers on his desk. "I graded your tests!" He yelled out, a wide smile on his face. "And it's great news!"

The class lit up, hoping for good grades. 

"You all did terribly and we get to spend more time on algebra!" He announced, starting to throw individual papers across the room to their owners. 

The class groaned. Who in the world would get excited for algebra other than Bumi? Who even knew he was into math?

“Oh! What’s this? New students?” he spotted the group over by the window, drawing the entire class’ attention to them. “Welcome! This’ll be the best and greatest class you’ll ever take!”

They smiled awkwardly. Something told them it wouldn’t. 

“... yay…” Thuy was only able to squeak out that sound, not trying to be noticeable.

* * *

As the day went by, each of the younger members of the crew realized that this school was way more like their own lives than they expected, with both benders and non-benders learning side by side, if some students didn’t take too kindly to certain groups due to what kind of person they were.

But that was like how life was in Korra’s universe, one moment they’re saving the day from some form of evil, the next a new one would come to take its place, it was… rather eerie.

It was also strange for the Avatar to find out that even in this universe, her other self still endured all she went through, yet in the universe’s own way.

Looking up her different selves life on some weird machine called a “Computer” during a “Study Period”, which not even Asami nor Sami knew how to operate at first, Korra was amazed at what she learned.

In fact, everything she learned was more insightful than she realized. Here, she was the daughter of an artist and the mayor of a small village in the South Pole who was revealed to be the Avatar four years after the death of the previous one, an ‘Air Wanderer’ who had managed to overthrow the tyrannical king of the Fire Nation and his devoted army who had forced his fellow Air Wanderers into ‘Internment Camps’ and almost drove them into extinction in their search for him.

He achieved victory with help of a brother and sister from the same village this Korra was from, the latter later becoming his wife and mother of his children, including the Tenzin she met, a blind earthbending girl who sought to escape her family's high class in search for her own independence and even the son of the evil ruler who had turned against his father alongside his famous uncle.

They would all end this ‘War on The Nations’ and bring forth a new era of peace, at least for the most part.

Korra then found out her other self came to this new city they were in to learn the last element from her old life’s son, soon becoming its own hero alongside her newest allies as she fought against a Non-Bender Supremist group, ironically led by a bender, internal conflict between her home and it’s similar location from across the world, which itself turned into a conflict of spirits and humans thanks to her crazy asshole of a uncle.

Then there was her battle against a rogue terrorist group who sought to bring anarchy amongst the world by ending the Avatar Chain, something which Korra herself wanted to speed through to forget the memories, then the uprising of a fascist sect of Earth Kingdom soldiers under the rule of one of those who helped out against the terrorists.

Among other stories the three women found on the computers “Online search engine”, or “Sato-ogle”, which both Sato women had to facepalm at, assuming this universe’s Hiroshi Sato came up with the name, was the gang warfare in the city happening after and the attempted second uprising of the fascist Earth Kingdom group, which was prevented by this universe’s Korra and the royal family of the city-state of Zaofu, including the former leader of the group who sought redemption.

One of the few close calls the crew experienced while uncover happened when Sami saw the image of this universe’s Guan in court, having read that he was given life, the shadowbender about to grab and throttle the screen screaming how he should have been executed among other vulgarities, before realizing she almost blew their cover, apologizing in a fake sweet voice of hers.

“I’m just not _a fan_ of his politics.”

Thankfully she calmed down when she had saw the article on this universe’s Korra and Asami coming out, making her happy along with the other two…

... until they noticed the comments on the page either ranged from positive support from fellow members of the LGTBQ+ community who felt like they now had no shame in sharing their sexuality if the Avatar and the most powerful teenage girl in the world was one of them, to frankly sexist and homophobic remarks about the two.

“Let’s… check out something else.” Sami noted, having seen the look of rage NOT coming from Korra, but Asami, herself about to do the same as her shadowbending self, quickly clicking on another page with the mouse they used.

“You think they have something on Hattori? Or at least the one of this universe?” Sami asked.

But before Korra began to type down the name on the keyboard, they heard the bell ring and noticed the other students begin to pack up and leave. Familiar eyes went their way as Korra stopped to look at her class schedule.

“Okay, we got one last class today… What’s this ‘Band’ class?

“Oh, like a music band class, I remember those back when I was in school.” Asami remembered from all those years ago.

“Too bad not even father’s influence could get the teacher to ignore how bad we were.” Sami brought up, having the same memory as her non-bender self of them trying to play a horn and failing horribly with a loud unpleasant sound.

“Wow, something you both sucked at?” The Avatar said, having to give her signature silly smile at the two Sato’s who both looked at her with mock deadpan looks.

“Could you play an instrument?” Asami’s voice said in a playful manner as Korra held her hand up, pretending she was hitting something with the other.

“I can play a mean triangle.” She said, earning herself a giggle out of her fiancé, briefly kissing her as Sami smiled at the sight. Though the shadowbender wished that even with everything she had endured, that she could kiss those lovely brown lips of her Korra, if just one last time.

But her attention was diverted to something on the schedule, reading the words under ‘Band’. “Oh, look at this…”

The two lovers looked at Sami's hand holding up the sheet of paper, seeing what she was looking at. “Extracurricular: Teacher- Beifong”.

“What does that first word mean?” Korra asked, curious what it meant, or even how to say it, yet both Sato women were more interested with the second part as the three finally began to leave towards the class.

“Like a side class, but it says the teacher is Beifong. Maybe Suyin teaches the class?” Sami asked as Asami and Korra both realized that sounded likely.

“Yeah, Lin always said she was big into old timey music!” Korra brought up, even remembering when Varrick and Zhu-Li got married that the second Beifong daughter insisted they get as a wedding band this group of musicians she always loved listening to as a child.

“The paper says the room ain’t too far away, lets go and meet up with her.” Asami pointed out on the schedule as the three began making their way towards it.

* * *

The three women, along with a rather quiet Thuy, something they noticed was really out of character for the metalbending brawler, all entered the room where they noticed various instruments in the room, some they certainly knew, some they had somewhat recognized and others they had no idea what they were.

“I don’t know what this is…” Thuy droned out in a small tone, holding up a small stringed instrument and it’s… what did it’s label say, “Bow”?

“... we may need to talk to her after class, something’s wrong.” Asami whispered to Korra who nodded back, rather taken back at how Thuy wasn’t acting like her normal self, certainly wasn’t her undercover persona. Then she quickly looked back at the metalbender. “And it’s a violin hun.”

Unknown to the four, both the Korra and Asami of this universe were now paying close attention to them as of all day, except for math, they had saw this “Kumi” girl from the Northern Water Tribe girl and her twin sister friends from the Fire Nation “Gin” and “Rei” had the same classes as them. And they certainly remembered the quiet girl from Math who Bumi was able to get out her name, that being “Bian”.

Both teenage girls knew something had to be up with them as they sat around in the circle of chairs alongside their friends Mako, Bolin and Opal, who too took notice of these new students coming in the same exact day.

“We should follow them when school is out…” The Korra from this universe whispered to her Asami, both leaning behind the stand where their sheet of music was so those four couldn’t read their lips as her girlfriend nodded

“Yeah, something about them bugs me.”

“Hello my crew with a K!” A female voice rang out from outside the room.

“Hello Mrs. Beifong!” The four members of the crew heard the only five other students in the class welcome the teacher. But something was off to Korra, Asami, Sami and Thuy, who had seemed to break out of her funk for the moment as they all thought the same thing.

That voice was _not Suyin’s_.

They turned and got a profile view of one side of an older light skinned woman, one they had absolutely no idea who she was, walking up to the desk in the classroom, holding a fancy purse in hand.

“Sorry I was late, I was just making some plans with the Mrs., having us a guest for dinner tonight!”

They noticed her hair wasn't all done up in a fancy manner like Suyin’s nor presentable like Lin’s, and she certainly wasn’t greying like both sisters. In fact, the hair looked long and wavy as it’s black hue shined in the light.

The four girls took notice of the woman’s attire too, which actually surprised them as it reminded them of Hattori’s disguise to an extent, she wore a red unzipped hooded sweater jacket/sleeveless unbuttoned flannel shirt combo with a black t-shirt under it. She also wore black skinny jeans which hugged her curves and weird black boots with little spining metal pieces on the heel.

The boots actually matched the odd black wide brimmed hat she took off with what looked liked, among a buckle or two around where it went on her head, a small metal skull on it.

“And come on guys, I told you to call me by my first name!” She said in a joking manner, taking in hand an instrument that looked like a more modern version of a four stringed pipa with what looked like green flames painted on. “Calling me “Mrs. Beifong” makes this old broad feel even older.”

“Sorry about that, just that we got some… new students.” The Asami of this universe brought up, pointing to Korra, Asami, Sami and Thuy, a sly smirk on her face.

“Is that so?” The four girls heard this odd Beifong woman say with a hint of curiosity in her voice before turning to look at them, each of the travelers reacting in shock at the eyepatch she had on over where her left eye would be as the right one had that familiar gold color to them as the woman smiled.

“Well, allow me to introduce myself, girls. Officially speaking because the school forces me to, I’m the music and band teacher, Mrs. Beifong.” She said, sitting and leaning on her chair with her boots on the desk, holding the instrument in hand as she plucked a string, smirking at it’s sound.

“But you can call me _Hatori._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brand new chapter be done with! And OH, so much to unpack! Our crew be in disguise as modern students and realizing how hard high school is! XD But that not be all as our favorite couple and Asami's shadowbending self find out plenty about how things went in this universe's past on them computers! And of course it had to happen to Hattori, but the Sex-Ed teacher is Izumi, whose married to a FEMALE VERSION of himself, shocker. XP Also, "Honō" is Japanese for fire... I'm not clever. And did anyone notice the Tahno cameo? If not, it's may be because he's not written to be the worst piece of shit on Ao3 next to Hiroshi Sato in LOK fanfics. XD Just kidding, just something I noticed.
> 
> Also, looks like not only is Mako and Thuy not together here to their surprise, but WE GOT WUKO!! Maybe, you'll find out more later on. But along with KyaLin, Wuko does need to be canon. And lastly, the biggest reveal... Both Asami's are terrible at music! XD Oh and Mrs. Hatori Hanzo has been introduced! What makes her different than any of the Hattori's... well, find that one out next chapter. :Shifty eyes, bit unsure: And for another fancasting for Hatori, me and Coniine thought of Petrea Burchard as the voice of her. Case you're curious, Petrea is the voice of our favorite space pirate, Ryoko Hakubi from the "Tenchi Muyo" franchise and she'd be perfect in the role as she can be funny, badass, snarky, smexy... and emotional when the time comes for it. :Again, shifty unsure eyes:
> 
> Heads up, the next batch of chapters are gonna be some long ass ones, so general heads up, may not be releasing on Sundays for a short while, least another few weeks or so. So until next chapter, enjoy this one and have a safe holidays with your loved ones and friends as we say "FUCK YOU to 2020".


	15. Chapter Fourteen- Accidental Peeping and A Dinner Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to some background character death and some PTSD. Also some implied sexy time, nothing too graphic, but it's obvious. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

Korra wasn't sure she was serious when she said she could play a mean triangle. Either way, that was what this… “Hatori” chose to give her. She couldn't work out whether that was because they had no other instruments left, or because she didn't look like she could play anything else. 

Asami and Sami had taken viola lessons when they were young, and made the mistake of mentioning that. Now they were given the chance to play, with no one having a clue that they had never actually been good at it. 

Thuy on the other hand wasn't half bad. They gave her one of those weird looking pipa’s, or “guitar”, and she took it from there. Even this universe's Korra complimented her, who, they learned, was the co-singer and guitarist in some band they had going on. 

"This Korra definitely has different talents," Asami whispered to her fiancé as they rounded up in formation to start the rehearsal. 

Korra pouted. "I'll show you."

"With that?" She looked at the tiny triangle in her hand. 

"On the bright side, I literally can't go wrong."

Asami looked at her viola and sighed. "Yeah. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"That makes two of us." Sami came and stood next to them, with Thuy following after. 

Although the metalbender was happy with her instrument, she had her glance on the ground. Something didn't seem right. 

Just as Asami was about to ask her about it, Hatori got their attention. 

"Alright, everyone ready?" she said, opening up her notebook. "Let's have a go, from the top. Let's go!"

She counted them down, and the band started playing. It sounded great and everything was going fine. Thuy slotted into her cue perfectly and the melody flowed with everyone else. That was until the strings came in, and both Sami and Asami looked at each other in panic as they realized they weren't playing the right notes. Korra chuckled as her fiancé's face contorted in concentration, but she couldn't get it right. 

"Alright, alright," Hatori raised her hands to stop them. "Some of us are still rusty, that's fine girls, still practicing. Let's have a run starting at the chorus to give the strings a break."

Korra sniggered, looking across at her lover. Asami rolled her eyes at her, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment but she had to admit she also found it a little funny. 

The band started playing again, hitting the notes of the chorus. yet Korra had forgotten to keep track of things, and suddenly realized she was about to miss her cue. She pinged the triangle and it brought everyone to a stop. 

Hatori chuckled. "That's not when you come in, Kumi."

It was Korra's turn to go red. She only had one note to play in the whole thing and she managed to mess it up. "Sorry." she muttered. 

Hatori didn't seem to mind with a kind smile that did remind the Avatar of the Hattori that had been traveling with them. "It's fine, we'll all get the hang of it, trust me, guitar took me a while to figure out. Let's take five, everyone to calm our nerves first, kay?"

She gathered her notes and took a sip of her coffee as everyone disbanded, chatting amongst themselves. 

"Well," Asami said. "You did show me something."

"Shut up," Korra nudged her with her elbow. "I lost track because I was busy making fun of you."

"Karma."

They chuckled, until they noticed Thuy was still feeling out of it. 

"Hey Thuy, you alright?" Sami asked her. 

The metalbender hesitated a moment before smiling up at them. "Yeah, fine, great."

The girls huddled around her. That obviously meant something wasn't fine. "You can tell us," Korra said. 

Thuy sighed. "I probably shouldn't be gutted about this, but it's something we heard before." She felt a little silly, but as she looked up, the three of them were still looking at her attentively and she felt encouraged to go on.

"The Thuy in this universe moved away to her ancestral home. I can't help but think... that's this universe's version of me going to the Fire Sanctuary. There's so much about my past relatives I don't know a thing about, it almost feels like that should be the right thing to do, but... it doesn't. I wouldn't want to move away from you guys. Especially not from Mako."

Asami put her hand on her shoulder. "The right decision is whatever _you_ decide. What this version of you decided may be different to what you want to do. I mean, just look at this Asami." They glanced over at the engineer's alter self briefly. She was tuning her own guitar after having played it flawlessly, even singing a lyric or two alongside her girlfriend. "That definitely... isn't me."

And judging by how well this universe’s Bolin played the drums, how Mako plucked the strings of the bass guitar and how easily this Opal’s fingers flowed across her keyboard, they surely weren’t the same as the friends they knew either. 

That made Thuy smile a little. "I suppose you're right. We are different from our alternative selves, aren't we? It doesn't mean I need to leave too."

"You'll do whatever feels right for you, whether that's leaving or staying," Sami said. "And even if you do want to find out more about your ancestors, it doesn't mean you have to go forever."

"When I was dealing with things after what the Red Lotus did to me, I made the decision to leave." Korra chimed in. She shifted her gaze to her feet, still feeling a little guilty for leaving everyone behind, especially the girl she loved. "It felt right at the time, so I did it." She looked up at Asami. "And if things are meant to be, all those you care for will still be there when you return."

Asami smiled and nodded, holding her hand, rubbing her thumb against it. 

"Thanks girls," Thuy said. A wide smile was spreading on her lips too. "Eh, bring it in!" She held her arms out and drew the girls into a group hug as they chuckled. 

"Alright, enough giggling back there!" Hatori called out, having caught the last few words of their whispers. "Sweetness time is done with, let's get back to rehearsing. Korra, why don’t you and your crew demonstrate a little something something for the new kids? Little less mish-mash of instruments and more straightforward band.”

The Avatar of this universe nodded, gathering her band together as they took up their respective instruments. Bolin on drums, Mako on bass guitar, Opal on the keyboard, while Korra and Asami took the center with their mics and electric guitars. They kicked things off with some “rock” song that got everyone’s head banging, even if it had nothing to do with rocks.

Apparently it was some song the couple wrote themselves called “I’m Every Girl”.

“Yep,” Asami said, putting her viola down. “They’re definitely not like us.”

“And that… I’m still trying to pinpoint our new friend.” Sami noted as her attention focused towards Hatori who was nodding along to the performance, her single gold eye beaming at the work her students were making.

* * *

Dark Korra sighed in frustration, realizing she had probably taken another wrong turn. 

" _This is the second time you led us the wrong way._ " Sha-Garou complained. 

"It's a lot easier to do it when my thoughts don't have voices running through them."

A passerby overheard her, despite trying to be quiet. He cast her a worried glance, eyes wide as he walked away quickly. At least that made him keep his distance. Her temper was running short. 

Worst of all, her stomach was rumbling. It was time for a pit stop. 

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted what she assumed was a café. It was lit up brightly, while the walls were painted a dark green with beige floors. It looked nice, so she headed inside, ignoring the spirit's protests. 

She eyes the large, extensive menu over the counter. She squinted as she read all that, not even knowing what half of those drinks were. Who on earth would give coffee such complicated names? Her eyes drifted to the cakes and sandwiched in behind the glass at the counter. Those seemed more like it, until she saw the prices. 

"Spirits, those are expensive," she muttered. 

" _You want the food or not? We’re already here..._ "

Dark Korra rolled her eyes and headed up to the cashier anyway. She pointed to what she wanted, and when they totaled it up, she found out they weren't accepting her "outdated" money. 

"This money isn't outdated," she tried to argue. "You're just too far into the future!" 

The barista gave her a concerned look before putting the items back on the shelf. "Sorry. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"What? All because of some lousy coins?" After everything she'd done, she couldn't believe she had to be told no by some lanky skinny guy in a green apron. Sha-Garou may have been encouraging her, but it took everything she had not to burst out in a fit of shadowbending right then and there.

She muttered to herself, telling the spirit to shut up as she turned to leave. Then, she caught sight of the man that passed her in the street. He walked up to the counter, and bought the sandwich she picked out with his own money. As he came over to her with it in his hand, he gave her a frightened, but warm smile. 

"Here," he said, handing it to her. "Spirits bless you. I don't have any spare change but I hope this helps."

She frowned. "Wait no, I'm not homeless-"

" _Don't tell him that. Just take the sandwich!_ " Sha-Garou said, annoyance in his tone.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you," she said in a croaky voice. "This will settle the voices in my head."

The man seemed pleased with that explanation and happily handed her the food. He walked away feeling pleased with himself at what he thought was a charitable deed. 

Dark Korra didn't care. She sat down at one of the tables, ripped the package open and started eating. 

It was rather good, it reminded her of something that… Asami made her once during a stormy night.

The shadowbender paused a bit before shaking off the thought and resumed eating.

* * *

Even though classes were done for the day, there was still one activity, another deemed “Extracurricular”, that they all knew this different Korra did after school, it was some sport called “Soccer”.

That was Lin and One-Arm Kya’s time to shine as they happened to be replacing the gym teachers who were the coaches for the school’s girl soccer team.

Thankfully for the two older women, they both realized the sport was actually a modern version of one that they remember “Uncle” Sokka, figuratively in Lin’s case while literally in Kya’s, tried inventing in their universe when they were much younger. Though they knew it under a different name.

“Football just makes more sense.” Lin, or “Coach Poppy” as One-Arm Kya cheekily referred to her as to the Chief’s irritation, said as she and the bloodbender watched the girls practice their drills, running around and kicking the white and black ball.

“Yeah, but Soccer sounds a bit more streamlined, you can put “Football” onto anything involving feet and a ball and it works, but people be like ‘ _Wait, which ball are we kicking today?_ ’.” The grey haired woman noted in her disguise, which Lin decided to borrow from, only with green and silver colors, seeing the universe’s Korra in her uniform look to easily get the ball and kick it hard into the goal with no issue. “Huh, the girl is good at this. But when you say “Soccer”, people will be like ' _OH, I know what you’re talking about._ '.”

Lin kept her steely green eyes on this universe’s Avatar getting high-fives from her teammates, laughing with them before taking notice of her looking to the side to the sidelines and seeing the other Asami sitting on the benches, cheering her girlfriend on.

It actually made Lin feel something she hadn't felt as much, two feelings actually. Pride and happiness, the second the most at seeing this Korra not as the all mighty Avatar having to deal with all the stress and issues of being the bridge between the worlds and it’s protector.

Here, at least at the moment, she was just a teenage girl living her life. No dealing with big bad guys trying to rule the world at the moment, just a regular girl living life.

Too bad the sound of fingers snapping got her attention.

“Hey, earth to the lady banging the other me…” One-Arm Kya said, making the metalbender’s face turn red and turning to look at her, having to give a smirk. “What’cha thinking?”

The Chief sighed, closing her eyes, shaking her head. “For your information, I actually had a pleasant thought in my mind for once, until you had to bring up my sex life.” She whispered back, not wanting any of the students to hear.

“Sorry, not my fault you couldn’t resist my two armed self’s sexual charms.” One-Arm Kya whispered back, obviously toying with the metalbender, who was beginning to steam up at this other version of her girlfriend messing with her. “I mean, us water tribe women are renown for our skills in the art of sex, with Fire Nation ladies at a close second.”

“We’re at a public school, do you really feel the need to express those thoughts?!” Lin shot back, trying not to make her embarrassment known, even knowing just from her eyes bugging out alone that she was failing as One-Arm Kya closed her eyes, stretching her single arm up in the air.

“Express what thoughts?” She asked in an innocent tone.

“ABOUT THE ART OF SEX!” Yelled out the Chief in annoyance, not realizing what she just screamed out at the bloodbender until the sudden creeping feeling dropped on her the second she said the last word and quickly turned to see _all_ the soccer players, including Korra, along with some other students look at her with weird and concerned looks on their faces.

“Lower the volume will you? We’re _still_ in school.” She heard the One-Armed bender say in a tone that was one part “Relax” and “Got you” in the other.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she didn’t want to cause more of a ruckus and get unwanted attention, along with this different version of her partner being a bloodbender of all things, Lin would have tackled this Kya to the ground.

But to save face, Lin coughed into her hand before putting back on her “Beifong” face to look at the students. “Alright, enough standing around, I want you all to do passing drills! Any of you slack off and it’s two hundred push ups in a row, _GOT IT?!_ ”

That got the players to focus their attention away from what just happened as Lin sighed, glaring at the smirking bloodbender.

“How the fuck does Hattori deal with your shit?”

“Oh, I’m an acquired taste.” One-Arm Kya smirked, knowing she got the Chief good before noticing something. “Hey, ain’t that our 'Yue'?” She noted, pointing out towards another part of the school as Lin looked in the direction to see her Kya she knew holding her textbooks as she sat down with another student.

From far away, it was hard to tell, but it was like she was casually talking to a shy girl on a bench, but something just didn’t seem right.

“Wonder who she’s talking to? Certainly some female student...” The bloodbender squinted her eyes, damning herself for not getting glasses like doctor's suggested.

“Not quite…” Lin noted in a matter of fact tone, tapping her sneakers on the ground, having fitting metal onto them to still be able to use her seismic sensing. “If the vibrations I'm feeling are correct, which ninety five percent of the time they are, I don’t think that’s _a girl_ she’s talking to.”

It didn’t take more than a few seconds for the one armed bender to realize what her other self was actually doing with this student in a dress.

Kya was trying to comfort a trans girl student, watching her put her kind hand on their shoulder, seeming to be saying encouraging words to the student who looked to return it back, looking to be happy with the words of the healer, or who they thought was just the Agriculture teacher.

The bloodbender was reminded briefly of Reiko talking to her the morning after they slept together, not caring about what other people would think of what they did in that bed or even what they’d say about their relationship later on.

One-Arm Kya remembered the kindness she saw in her other self as they were getting their disguises, that even after so much hardship, she saw the good in everything, felt the energy and aura in all life. Like with Lin.

She also knew Kya didn’t care about who or what you were, how you looked or acted, if she could comfort you with her words or hands, she would.

It made the single armed bender wonder how she could be more like her other self.

“You have an amazing gal Lin…” She began, with Lin turning to her, away from Kya waving the student off. “Don’t ever lose her.”

The metalbender was thrown a bit, seeing this version of Kya, who just before had been purposely fucking with her head all just for a laugh, now telling her not to let Kya go in the most sincere way possible. She had to give a small laugh at this.

“You’re right, you are an acquired taste, One-Arm… but a good one.”

* * *

“Okay, so what do we know? Anything important?” Opal asked as the crew had regrouped in an hotel not far from the school, knowing this universe’s Korra hadn’t left it yet.

“Yeah, apparently Korra can’t play a triangle for shite.” Thuy answered as the Avatar gave her a silly glare, snickering. “Sorry, couldn’t resist Korra.”

Seeing Thuy now being her regular self after what they found out, it did make Mako feel much better, holding her hand as the metalbender looked at him.

“Feeling better?” Mako asked as Thuy nodded.

“Very much love.”

“Also, me and Opal think this universe’s Mako is gay.”

“ _WHAT?!_ ” The firebender yelled out as he quickly turned to look at his brother who looked at him shrugging after saying that.

“Well, yeah…”

“Don’t you remember seeing how he was cool with Wu rubbing his shoulders?” Opal asked, remembering the blush on the other Mako’s face, finding it rather cute.

“But that could mean anything!” Mako said back, just now remembering what he saw.

“Ah, love… I didn’t want to mention this until we were in private, but I also happened to… notice other you and Wu as school ended…” Thuy began in a small voice, rubbing her fingers with a small cute smile. “... _snogging_ a bit.”

“Snogging- YOU MEAN?!” Asami beamed out, knowing what nickname the metalbender used to describe what she saw her and Korra do once or twice.

“Making out.” Thuy finished in her small tone as Mako felt himself go even more pale.

“... I’m gay and… I’m gay _with…_ ” He sputtered out, trying to make sense of it all. “I… I mean, the gay part isn’t what’s bothering me-”

“But because of WHO your other self is gay for?” Lin finished for him in a simple matter to which Mako nodded with a disturbed look on her face, which she shrugged at. “Hey, sometimes you never know who gets your attention. Maybe Wu isn’t as much of an idiot in this universe…”

Okay, maybe she couldn’t give Wu, or at least any Wu that much credit. “... MAYBE.”

“Yeah, I mean, who all saw Korra and Asami happening?” Bolin asked.

“I did.” Kya simply answered.

“Me too.” As did Lin.

“I didn- NO, wait, I did too.” Opal had to agree after correcting herself.

“Me and Hattori had a bet in our universe of when they’d finally admit their feelings.” One-Arm Kya smirked.

“And I lost. “ Hattori said, remembering how much Yuan he lost to his partner.

Both brothers looked at each other and sighed at being alone at that instance as both Korra and Asami laughed at them, along with Sami who enjoyed the humor, needing it after so long.

"Okay, we need to figure out a way to keep an eye on the Korra of this universe. Ideas?" Kya said after the laughter was finished.

"OH, maybe Sami can keep watch on her from the shadows! You can do that, right?" Opal thought of which Sami shrugged.

"Yeah, that should be no issue." She said before remembering something. "But in case Dark Korra comes around, I'm going to need some backup. I may be a shadowbender, but I'm…"

She didn't want to admit it, even as Khu-Shui was telling her in her head that she was more powerful than she gave herself credit for.

"... Not as powerful alone. And who knows how long it'll take, some of us do need sleep"

"We'll come with you." Asami offered as Korra nodded.

"Yeah, plus I always wondered what it was like moving around in shadows without them trying to kill me."

That got the shadowbender to smile back, so thankful to have these two always at her side. "Thank you."

With that, she took both her other self and Korra's hands and let them fall with her into Bolin's shadow, the earthbender jumping in fright at that happening afterwards, lightly stepping on the shadow, only to tap on the ground it was cast on.

" _Please stop that._ " Khu-Shui asked as she poked Sami's head out of Thuy's own shadow, making Bolin scream like a girl in fright as she vanished.

"I will never get used to that." One Arm Kya pointed out, still finding the concept of bending shadows freaky, no matter the bender, deciding to lay down on the bed. "Whatever, taking a nap, don't wake me up unless we're under attack."

As that went on, Opal took notice of the other version of her uncle walking into the bathroom trying to put something red around his neck, following him. "Uncle Hattori, what are you doing?" 

"Trying to put this damn tie on, why do these have to be in this universe too?" He answered as he looked in the mirror, muttering to himself as he never had much success with putting one on.

Lin rolled her eyes at this sight and strolled over, grabbing the tie and easily wrapping it in place for him.

"There. Now why are you putting on a tie in the first place? Didn't you throw a hissy fit at having to wear one yesterday?"

That got Hattori to sigh at his other sister. "I was… invited to dinner." He answered, his voice going low as he finished.

"With who?"

Then both Beifong women realized from how red his face was getting and him looking away with just his different looking eyes what was going on.

"Oh my Aang, are you going out on a date?" Lin asked, finding this too funny as Hattori's eyes went wide.

"WHA- _NO!_ "

"Uncle Hattori, I'm so happy, who is she?" Opal asked, hugging him.

"But it's not a date!" He tried correcting her as Lin was unconvinced.

"You're willing to put on a tie and you're acting like you were caught stealing a choco chip pastry."

"Is she cute?"

"It's not like that-"

"Or is your date _a guy?_ "

"Okay, I’m gonna put a stop to this now!" Hattori gasped out, his hands up, breathing deep breaths to calm himself down, trying not to get the other's attention. "I was politely asked to have dinner by the sex-ed teacher, and not wanting to almost blow my cover again-"

"Wait, ‘ _again_ ’?!" Lin asked in disbelief at him. "WHAT did you-"

"I said yes and not the point." Hattori stopped the Chief, rolling both of his eyes. "I don't know if Izumi took pity on-"

"IZUMI?!?" Both aunt and nice yelled out at the same time, causing the metalbender to cover their mouths with his hands to hush them up.

"Quiet down will you!" He whispered back as Lin got his hands off her and Opal's mouths.

"Why are you trying to hook up with Zuko's daughter again, to make up for lost time?"

"I just find it weird that the Fire Lord's daughter is teaching Sex-Ed." Opal noted as this was getting too crazy for Hattori before realizing something. "Wait, how do you know Fire Lord Izumi?" She asked, getting an amused chuckle from her aunt.

"OH, your uncle never told you?" She began, rather enjoying the fun she was getting out of making fun of a silent Hattori. "In his universe, he and Izumi used to go out."

"WWOOOWWW…" The airbender said in awe before noticing something in his eyes. "... Why'd it end between you two?"

That got the man to sigh, rubbing his fingers on his forehead in both annoyance... and regret. "Because I made the worst fucking mistake in my life. Something I’m still paying for."

"ANYWAY…" He resumed saying in his natural tone, looking at the two. "I didn't just accept her offer because of who she is, but because of who I found out _her wife_ is."

"Damn, didn’t think of her to swing that way." Lin said to herself before looking at Hattori, just now getting an idea. "Is it Ula?"

The name sounded familar, but Hattori shook his head. "Ah… Hah… NOO…" He began, that feeling of embarrassment coming back to him.

"Well, who then?" Opal asked before she figured it out at the same exact time as Lin whose eyes went wide with realization.

"Oh Raava, _it's you._ "

"Wait, in this universe, you're female? That means I have two aunts now!" Opal came up with, giggling at this revelation as Hattori turned to the wall and began slowly hitting his forehead against it.

"This is my curse, damn Beifong curse…" He groaned out as Lin couldn't help but laugh. If anything, Hattori was happy they didn't know about Shali… least he hoped so.

"Oh, this is priceless, we have to be there."

"NO! No!" The Chief hissed, turning around at Lin, shaking his head, fear in his eyes. "You can't do this to me, Opal maybe, but _not you_ …"

* * *

"I fucking hate you right now." Was all Hattori said, venom in his voice as he stood in front of the door of the fancy apartment after ringing the doorbell, a bottle of Fire Nation whiskey in one hand and both Lin and Opal at his side.

"Oh, you're such a baby." Lin smirked, loving how easily this so-called tough guy caved in as he glared at her.

"Right now, you're on my shit list…" He muttered before looking at Opal. "Not you Opal, _you I like_."

"Hey, Uncle Hattori, it's okay…" Opal said, holding his hand, trying to calm him down. "You can do this, we're here for you." This got a laugh from Lin.

"Whatever, I'm just here to watch him crash and burn."

Before the man with the mismatched eyes could insult his other universe sister, he heard the door open, said eyes of his widening at the woman standing in front of him.

There stood Izumi, clad in more casual clothes compared to her work attire, but her mature beauty still shined as she gave a smile.

"Ah, Daisuke Fudo, glad you found the place so easy. And I see you brought company."

"Huh? Ah…" Hattori trailed off, turning to Opal, trying to remember her fake name. "This is my… Daughter, Karai."

The airbender gave a cheerful wave. "Hello!"

"Nice to meet you, Karai." Izumi smiled before turning to Lin. "And I assume you're his wife?" 

THAT got a horrified look off of Lin.

" _WIFE?!?_ "

"Ha! Fuck no." Hattori waved off, shutting the Chief up. "That's Poppy, my freeloading sister who still lives with our mother, even though she's a gym teacher and decided to crash this lovely dinner, I brought whiskey!" He said, annoyed sarcasm in his voice, yet not resisting the chance to get back at Lin as his eyes looked at the curious teacher as if he was apologizing to her, holding up the bottle of liquor in hand. "May we come in?"

The teacher gave both women a quick look over before letting out a kind smile.

"Oh, it's no problem, Hattori made enough food to feed a whole bunch of Air Wanderers. She welcomes company, come on in."

"Thank you Mrs. Honō…" The Chief bowed before entering along with Opal and Lin.

* * *

Sami, Asami and Korra travelled through the shadows, going after this universe's Korra as she was leaving. They had to admit, this was a strange and somewhat creepy way of doing things, but Sami admitted to not being able to sense Dark Korra so well in this world. It must have had something to do with the electrical interference of all the technology. But either way, that meant they had to do things in a less... desirable way. 

They had no idea when the Dark Avatar would strike, so they kept a close eye on the seniors as they took their bus ride home. Being a shadowbender was easy in the afternoon sun. Everywhere they looked, something was casting a shadow they could slip into.

They ended up following both the other Korra and Asami, and as they got to the Avatar's home, they hesitated a moment.

"Ah, are you sure we should be doing this?" Asami whispered. She also had a few complaints about how being dragged through shadows felt, but she held them back. Maybe it was something had to get used to, but feeling the seemingly empty void of darkness was gonna take more than a few minutes to get used to

Sami tried to feel for Dark Korra again, but she couldn't pinpoint her at all. "We'd never forgive ourselves if we're not there when she attacks."

"Can't we watch from the outside?" the engineer rebutted. 

"And what if she sneaks in like we are? We'll never see her coming."

The three of them were coming to the realization that there was no other way to do things. With a sigh and a final defeat, they headed in, sliding under the door after the pair.

Houses were so different in this universe than they were used to. The first floor was more like a large, open planning room. The couches in the living room had blankets with watertribe-like embroideries thrown over them, and there was this large monitor on the wall that looked... flat? And hung on the wall? That sure looked strange to the crew. 

They saw the couple heading into the kitchen on the left of the entrance, separated from the living room by a half wall. The two got snacks from the cupboards and giggled to themselves. 

"Can we find somewhere to hop out?" Asami whispered in the shadow. "It's really cramped in here."

"Yeah, you're squishing me," Korra said. 

"You're coming into my space."

"You can't claim a monopoly on space when there barely is any!"

"Shut up you two. Spirits, it's like you're married already, and I should know!" Sami said, making them quiet as she looked for somewhere better to hide. The openness of the floorplan wasn't ideal for their mission. "Gonna head upstairs," she whispered, slithering up the steps. 

They slipped under the first door they saw and the three rushed out of the shadow, finally able to stretch. 

"I have never admired contortionists more in my life." Asami said, her spine letting out a few cracks as she straightened her back. 

They took a moment to glance around. There was a bed with navy sheets, and above it a shelf with various trophies. Leaning against the nightstand was a guitar, and framed on the wall was a photo of a band of people. Looking a little closer, it was the Avatar's rock band with her friends and girlfriend. Out of all places, they ended up in Korra's room. 

"The Krew…" Asami whispered, seeing the name on a small plaque on the picture frame. "Catchy name."

"We should probably find somewhere more discreet to hide," Sami whispered. "They might head up here."

"Ugh, more shadows?" Korra said. 

"Oh for Agni's- It'll be quick this tim-"

They heard footsteps out in the corridor. 

" _Shit_! Hide!"

Korra had no time to think, and just let herself be pulled by Asami into the closet as Sami slipped into the shadows. Ironically, no matter what route they took, they ended up cramped in darkness again. 

"Well well well," Korra whispered to Asami, slight smirk on her face, knowing where they were.

"Shut it."

“Least we’re not in shadows…”

They ended up finding some comfortable position against the clothes in there with them, as this universe's couple walked in. They could just about spot the two of them through the small trickle of light coming in through the closet's keyhole. 

The two of them were chuckling at each other, and as they crashed down onto the bed, the two in the closet realized they couldn't be stuck in a worse spot. 

In the darkness of the wardrobe, Korra looked at Asami, and although they could barely see each other, they both had the same worried look on their faces. Without saying anything, they both knew what they were thinking. 

_Oh no._

Things were heating up in the Avatar's bedroom as soon as they saw the clothes dropping off the bed. Korra shut her eyes, turning away from the keyhole and Asami did the same, but even with their hands over their ears, they couldn't stop hearing the heavy breathing outside the closet. 

“Man, we are so loud…” Korra whispered as low as she humanly could to Asami, so as not to alert the other two in the room, not that they’d hear them anyway.

It was now that they regretted not going with Sami. She probably could have slipped them away quietly and they wouldn't have to endure this. As much as they were only other versions of themselves, this still felt... _insanely awkward._

It wasn't until Asami noticed something else going on that she dared take a peek, out of sheer curiosity. She frowned, and then her eyes widened. Whatever they were using, they _definitely_ didn't have those back in their universe.

Korra noticed her fiancé looking and was about to grab her face and turn her head away from the keyhole, when she also caught sight of what was being used and too was fascinated by it. She and the engineer looked at each other again, and they shared a thought. 

_We're SO inventing that when we go back home._

Before they endured any more of this, they sensed something in the closet with them. Two hands reached out and pulled them in the shadows with it, and they slid away quietly. The busy couple would almost never have noticed them anyway. 

Sami hurried down the hall and slipped into the bathroom where everyone emerged again. 

No one said anything for a moment. They looked at each other in an awkward silence, processing what they just witnessed. Then Asami looked at her alter self. 

"Were you thinking what I was thinking?" 

The shadowbender finally smiled, whispering back. "Battery powered, right?"

"And using an alternating current for vibrations?”

“Genius!" They both said at the same time, chuckling quietly.

Korra rolled her eyes. "I swear you two would spot a new invention in any situation."

“I don’t hear _you_ being against it.” Asami said with a wolfcat-like grin, making the Avatar blush at how right she was.

* * *

Entering the apartment, the three Beifong’s looked around, taking notice of how… modern and big the apartment was, enough space in the living room alone for a large bookshelf, two couches, a fireplace AND what looked like a big monitor which was huge and so flat on the wall.

“Spirits, how’d they get all the components in this thing?” Hattori muttered to himself as Lin herself was more amused by the fact that the room alone was almost as big as her whole apartment.

“Woah, how much did this all cost?” Opal asked the owner who giggled at the question.

“When your father is the Fire Lord, money’s not really an issue.”

“I’d say…” Lin noted, looking at the rather antique looking Fire Nation soldier armor.

“Ah, yes, used to be on display in my father’s private collection at the palace, you have no idea how hard it was to bring it over by air without damaging it.” Izumi noted, appreciating the old relic as Lin eyed her, curious.

“So, if you come from such a big rich family, why-”

“Choose to live the life of a commoner?” The Fire Lord’s daughter answered quickly to which she got a nod, Izumi returning one back. “I love my parents, I enjoyed my life as princess, royalty certainly has its perks.”

She then sat down, thinking it over for her guests. “But I didn’t want to be some rich brat who had everything given to her, my parents knew I wanted to take my own path. Even as I joined up with the Fire Nation army, I insisted that I not be given any special treatment because of who my father was.”

“You were in the army? That must have been… rough, buddy.” Opal said, trying to approach the subject without sounding intrusive as the teacher sighed.

“It was, even for firebenders…” She said, bending up a flame in her hand, showing that she in this universe was also a bender. “But I wanted to be a medic. I met many good friends there. Lost a lot of them too, but I knew if I kept at it, I could focus on saving lives, not taking any unless I had to.”

Izumi then looked at a photo on the stand next to her, it was her in her army uniform getting a medal from her father and various generals, it was a purple one that looked like a heart.

“I almost died on the battlefield too, but I fought on through the pain and was able to be honorably discharged, allowing me to focus on my true passion.”

“Teaching Sex-Ed?” Hattori had to snark.

“Well, more Human Biology. It just so happened the class you helped me with earlier today was just a side class the school just started having.” She explained as she took notice of him looking at a picture on the wall of her in her late 20’s.

In the picture with Izumi was a baby girl in her arms along with a young boy of four who stood, or tried standing in a serious pose.

“Them your kids?”

“Yep, Iroh II. and Mihoshi. Iroh actually served in my father's army too, now he teaches Art Studies at the school along with his husband Haku. Mihoshi has been traveling all over the world as a peace ambassador.”

Before Hattori could say how they sounded like good people, having already met the two in his universe, he noticed someone in the photo he didn’t recognize at first, a bearded guy in a suit.

It took the metalbender mentally replacing the short dark brown scruffy hair with long hair tied up in a ponytail to realize who the man was.

“Take it he’s the father?” He asked, getting a saddened look from Izumi, which both Lin and Opal noticed, already having figured out who the man was.

“Correct, that’s Kyo, my first husband. I met him after I got out of the army as we went to the same college, he was there under a Basketball scholarship. But a leg injury cut that career path short, but I did meet him in the hospital I volunteered at, so maybe it was meant to happen. He then studied and became a surgeon.”

Seeing the soft smile on Izumi’s face, Hattori, along with Lin and Opal, knew just as easily why he wasn’t around. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to him?”

Izumi looked over to the fireplace where an urn rested on it, Kyo’s name on the plaque, walking over to it and sliding her hand down it.

“Ten years ago, he was on his way home late at night after a double shift at the hospital. Some Triple Threat Triads tried stealing his car and-”

“Say no more.” Lin simply said, letting the memory be as Opal and Hattori approached her, the airbender putting her hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry to hear that, I’m sure he’s smiling at you and your children in the Spirit World.”

“Thank you Karai.” The mature woman sniffled a bit before smiling, having to chuckle a bit. “Here I am getting emotional while me and my wife are supposed to be serving you all dinner.”

“Yeah, been wondering where she is.” Hattori noted, not noticing the figure standing behind him in the archway into the dining room.

“Maybe if you quit looking at _my girl_ , maybe you’d find her.” The figure said, making Hattori jump as everyone else turned to see the music teacher, laughing at the guy who she didn’t realize was another form of herself.

“Spirits, you scared… me.” He said, realizing who he was talking to, the metalbender shocked to see how much this lady version of himself looked like him, same color of hair, same taste in clothes, or at least what disguise he wore, and the same eyes… except for the fact that she had a eyepatch over where her blind eye should be.

“So, this is the nice guy you were telling me who threatened to metalbend that little bastard, break his legs, then throw ‘em through a wall.”

“ _Is THAT what you did?!_ ” Lin asked, mortified at an embarrassed Hattori, realizing that's how he almost blew their cover as the guy turned to her.

“Hey, the fucker had it coming, should have heard the shit he was saying about Izumi!...” He said before, turning away, a little nervous at the memory. “And I apologized.”

“Hey Poppy, no need to get angry at Daisuke.” Izumi began saying as she walked up to her wife. “That student has been nothing but trouble since the year started. Frankly, I’m just happy your brother knocked him down a peg. OH!”

Fake slapping the side of her head, she pointed at her lover. “Where are my manners, this is my wife, Hatori Beifong.”

“Glad to meet you.” Hatori smiled as she shook her other self's hand, the owner of the hand still in awe at how a female version of him looked kissing another version of his old lover.

“I have a lot of confusing feelings right now.” Hattori said to himself as low as he could so no one could hear, or at least he hoped so.

“Since you already know Daisuke’s name, this is his daughter Karai and his sister Poppy.” Izumi smiled as Hatori looked at the two women her wife was pointing at.

“Nice to meet you two.”

“Same to you.” Lin said back, trying to keep in her laughter as much as she could easily see how this woman looked and acted like Hattori, just _praying_ to Raava she could actually do it.

“So nice to meet you Auuunn…” Opal was about to say “Aunt”, but caught herself, thankfully noticing something else in the corner of the room. “... OH, what’s that?”

The Airbender moved away from her other universe aunt to the area, seeing it was one of those guitars Korra, Asami, Sami and Thuy told her about. But it was different looking from the ones they described as it didn’t look like it needed electricity to be played as it was made of just pine wood and steel with a fine grain finish.

What caught her eyes the most was that it looked like a small child painted blue and white snowflakes on the front.

“It’s so pretty…” Opal said, reaching out to touch it, only to suddenly feel a hand grasp her quite harder than she expected.

“ _DON’T_ TOUCH THAT!...” Hatori let out rather loudly, like she was scolding the girl to her and the guests' surprise, realizing what she had done as she felt Izumi come up behind her and held her by the waist.

“I… ah… sorry…” The one eyed woman said, letting Opal go to her confusion. “It’s, ah… _very personal_ to me, one of a kind.”

Even without words being said, the airbender, along with her aunt and other universe uncle, could tell there were some memories that this Hatori held with the instrument that they may have been familiar with to an extent.

“I’m sorry, I… maybe should have asked Mrs. Beifong.” Opal responded with, seeing the woman give a brief glance at her wife, who knew exactly why she responded like that.

“It’s okay… SO! WHO’S HUNGRY?” At the flip of a switch, Hatori pointed to the dining room, seemingly back to normal. “Who likes Beef and rice bowls?”

“I do?” Hattori rose his hand up, not trying to give the wrong impression as Hatori laughed and approached him.

“Good, cause I made plenty to go around, come on!” She said heading into the room with Izumi, the three Beifong’s giving each other glances at how odd that moment was.

“That’s… _not_ what I expected from a female you…” Lin whispered as Hattori nodded, Opal approaching them, her voice low too, pointing at her aunt.

“Something’s up, I saw it in her eye, she’s different from the others we met.”

“Not even my sister was that twitchy.” Hattori noted as well, realizing how different Hatori was compared to his Lin.

“You three coming?!” Izumi asked from the kitchen, her voice ringing out.

“Yes!” Hattori yelled back as they began to make their way into the dining room, but before Lin entered it, she JUST heard a slight noise from upstairs, like a creak.

She waited a bit, trying to use her seismic sensing, waiting to see if she was just hearing things, but got nothing, shrugging, probably just an open door.

* * *

“WOW, my compliments to the chef!” Hattori praised, having finished his dinner, putting his chopsticks down and bowing to Hatori who mock-bowed in her seat back as Izumi smiled.

“Thank you, thank you, old family recipe.”

“Well, who knew the Beifongs were good cooks?” Lin said, putting on a fake smile, even if truth be told, she was always a terrible cook, just passable at best. She always had Kya make their meals as the waterbender had less of a chance of burning their apartment down.

“It’s amazing you’re related to the Beifongs, I bet they’re super cool, especially Suyin…” Opal said, having to give some praise to her mother before noticing the slight glare her aunt was giving her. “And of course, that _awesome_ Chief of Police Lin.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool, little rocky at first getting used to them, but they’re good sisters… they’re great sisters.” Hatori said, feeling the metal bracelet around her wrist.

One that the other three Beifong’s noticed looked like the space rock bracelet of Toph’s, only slightly different, a small gold clip attached.

“Ahh… What about your mother, Toph? I always heard she was kind of a ballbuster.” Hattori asked, trying to play along.

“ _Kind of?_ ” Izumi repeated, having to laugh as she held her wife’s hand. “Hatori, remember our wedding back at my father’s palace?” She asked to which Hatori sighed.

“Spirits, it’s still brought up at every get-together. So, the old lady was offered a room to stay in at the palace during the week of the wedding, cause you know, she and Zuko are still close friends and allies.” Hatori began describing, remembering it like it was only days ago.

“Yet she didn’t want the nice comfy bed, saying it reminded her too much of her old home. So she demanded that she be given some big slabs of stone to form up her own little rock mattress. But Zuko, high power Fire Lord he is, tried insisting for her to at least just give the bed a try, so what happens next?”

“She lies down on the bed, and not even ten seconds later, she gets off and uses her freakin’ earthbending to launch it out of the window, four stories up too, and forms up her rock mattress.” Izumi said, Hatori laughing her head off.

“When Zuko asked why she would even do that, what did mother say?” She said before putting on her own impression of her mother. “I’ve slept on volcanic rock more comfy than that!”

That got Hattori, Opal and even Lin herself laughing at how the story went as… Well, it was very much a Toph thing to do and say.

“Oh, those poor guards who had to fetch that bed from that Platypus Bear cave.” Izumi said, taking off her glasses to wipe a tear from her eye from laughing at the story.

“Alright, that does sound like something she’d do.” Lin said in reflection almost absentmindedly, glad that didn’t happen when she had her mother over during the Ripper murders or since.

Speaking of which, Lin herself couldn’t believe that this woman, this “Hatori Beifong”, or “Hatori Hanzo” could have been the Equalist Ripper, she just… didn’t seem like the type who’d harm a fly.

Yet… the way she reacted to Opal almost touching that instrument, the way she suddenly sprung herself on the girl for even getting close. She, along with the two other Beifongs, had to figure out what it was that triggered her.

“Okay, enough about us, what about _you three?_ Have any stories to share?” Izumi questioned, looking at the three, who quickly looked at each other, each saying “No” in some form of variation.

“Nothing special about us really.” Opal said in her natural sweet voice until she just noticed something at the corner of her eye, her chopsticks were _moving slightly…_

_… those METAL chopsticks were moving._

“Are you sure?” She heard Hatori’s voice ask before lifting her head up to look at her, just now, along with her family members, noticing the one-eyed woman put on a sinister smile. “Cause I think you have plenty to share…”

“Like why you’ve been spying on Korra.” Lin seemingly said…

… but it wasn’t the Lin sitting next to Opal who said it, with said woman’s eyes going wide before all the chopsticks on the stable lifted and moved over their wrists, bending around them, leaving the three Beifong’s to be strapped to their chairs.

“WHAT THE?!” Hattori yelled out, trying to use his own metalbending to escape as did Lin, but it wasn’t working.

“Don’t even try, I doubt you three can bend platinum.” Lin’s voice rang out again as the three turned and to their shock, stood the Lin Beifong of this universe, clad in a more modern, sleeker and thinner version of the metalbender cop uniform while her hair was tied up into a bun, her hand raised up as both Hatori and Izumi stood up from the dining room table and walked over to the cop.

“Next time you’re trying to sneak into a school, make sure the idiot principal doesn’t try going into the police station to ask the real me for more details about your little ‘undercover sting’.”

“Way to go _BROTHER_ , because of your unresolved issues with Izumi, we’re trapped!” Lin yelled out at Hattori as she struggled trying to slip her hands through the makeshift restraints, realizing she couldn’t.

“ME?! Maybe they were tipped off by our fake names that YOU came up with! I mean, fucking “Poppy”, SERIOUSLY?! Our and their grandmother’s name?!” He shot back, voicing his own issue with Lin’s plan.

“Stop it you two, arguing won’t help our case!” Opal yelled back at her aunt and other uncle like they were children, turning to this more modern looking Lin. “Look, we’ll talk, but you all have to know your Korra’s in danger!” Opal tried to talk to appease them, only to suddenly see a sharp blade at the side of her face.

“Is that so? How do we know you shadow spirit doppelgangers aren’t lying to get close to her?” Hatori asked, holding the blade of her Hanzo original katana up to the airbender’s throat.

“HEY! Get that fucking blade away from her, you murdering bitch!” Lin yelled out as she tried escaping, only to notice behind the hot air just inches away from her hair.

“Please refrain from using such language.” Izumi threatened, holding a ball of fire up near Lin’s head, making sure he knew what could just as easily happen next.

“And If you don’t mind me taking sides ‘Not-Me’...” The other Lin began, looking at both Chief’s. “The fake aliases weren’t subtle in the slightest. Katara, Yue, you weren’t even trying!” The other Lin said, sitting down across from the three Beifong’s, having to at least agree with Hattori.

“Alright, we get it. But we’re telling the truth, your Korra is in serious danger, there is a killer after her!” Hattori pleaded with them, knowing that time was slowly ticking until Dark Korra made her attack.

“Is that so?”

The three strapped down guests instantly knew whose voice they just heard, turning their heads just enough to see Toph Beifong, in more casual modern clothing, standing in the room, leaning against the wall as the floor below them had what looked like liquid metal slide out from below the old woman's feet and began covering the chairs they were on.

“Well, I’m a living breathing lie detector, so go ahead, tell me everything.”

“Oh, where’s Sami to describe things…” Lin sighed, knowing they had a long story to tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, hopefully with Modern Toph around, maybe Lin, Opal and Hattori can maybe convince the others they're telling the truth! XD And lets hope so considering they gotta deal with four powerful women (Every MRA asshole's worst nightmare... that and a Captain Marvel sequel. XD ) Let's hope so cause originally this chapter, along with some others, was originally twice as long, so it had to be cut down. Not that it's a issue as that means more chapters, yay! XD And hey, a chapter where Dark Korra and Sha-Garou ain't at each other's throats... that's nice? :Shrugs:
> 
> Also also, some more galtalk with Korra, Asami, Sami and Thuy which was sweet to write, Lin having to deal with One-Arm Kya messing with her, yet bonding a bit over Prime Kya, herself comforting a trans student, which we all know she'd do in a heartbeat and... what's this, A MENTION OF SOKKA?!? :Cue frothy mouth guy freaking out: Also some... private time between Modern Korra and Asami... that Prime Korra and Asami accidently witness... don't worry, they're legal! And what ideas did both Asami's have?... come on. XP Was also nice to go into this Izumi's history too, certainly saw her as a Army medic type, along with getting in "That's rough, buddy" reference. XD And cause I like pointing them out, references to both Iroh II AND his still unnamed sister, here named Mihoshi. (We went with a Tenchi Muyo shoutout, no shame) Also confirmed, Iroh II is gay... as is Modern Mako and Wu, WUKO! X3
> 
> Some sidenotes, the song that "The Krew" (Creative name, I know) plays in the school, while no lyrics is seen, is supposed to be "I'm Every Girl" by Lou Bonnevie, heard in "A.D. Police Files". More 80's pop rock, but it suits our Krew, plus it's a catchy song. Admittingly, it was hard for me and Coniine to come up with how a modern version of Lin's costume would look, so we went with a more sleeker version of her police uniform, simple but effective!
> 
> Since this chapter was split in two, what was intended to be in this chapter is happening at the end of the next one and... well... just a head's up, it also leads into the SECOND big reason why me and Coniine had the trigger warnings constantly featured in the notes and the tags. Apologizes ahead of time.


	16. Chapter Fifteen- Convinced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... :Bit concerned here, takes a deep breath: Okay, so I've brought up how me and Countconiine knew way ahead of time to include trigger warnings. And rightfully so considering what themes, topics and scenes are included in the fic, but... well, there is of course a trigger warning this chapter concerning PTSD (Which has been a big one naturally), references to death of loved ones, including a child. But at the end, there's one thing that... well, it's only said, but it does lead into a certain problematic topic in the next chapter that me and Coniine knew was gonna be a hurdle to write about, and we managed to do it, but all I can say is that it's a issue still going on today. So just a BIG HEADS UP, okay?... But if it makes you feel any better, there is some more of Wu being sassy.
> 
> Be sure to give comments, give kudos and bookmark!

“... So after Sami explained things, we all used her 'ahchoo crystal' or whatever the heck it’s called to hop through different dimensions, from one where the Red Lotus were actually able to capture Korra and turn her into their most powerful member...” Lin kept saying.

“A universe where things between the Fire Nation and Air Nomads were switched around during the Hundred Year War…” Opal brought up.

“And one where there were animal people, like Lin and Opal, and I assume you and Suyin were pandas. I wasn’t around for that one, but apparently I was a bobtail cat, which I’m still trying to wrap-” Hattori said before Toph raised her hand up over his mouth, silencing him.

“Alright, I think I heard enough. What you three are saying is quite the insane story, quite detailed to be not true, but still insane…” The master earthbender explained as she lowered her hand.

“So, does that mean you believe us?” Lin asked, a small grin forming on her face as she realized this may have worked.

“Are you kidding, _FUCK NO_!” That straightforward response from the old woman sunk that grin off of Lin’s face along with the other two. “Truth be told, I can’t even tell if you are telling the truth or not, you three honest to the spirits actually believe your crackpot stories, which makes it impossible to read your heartbeats! It’s Azula all over again!”

“Oh Raava, don't even get us started...” Hattori groaned out.

“Look, we’ve been telling you all the truth this whole time!” Opal cried out at this other version of her grandmother. “We’re your family from other universes, grandma!”

“Yeah, I’m a guy version of your one daughter, we even have the same taste in women!” Hattori yelled out, pointing his finger at Izumi just before Hatori suddenly aimed the tip of her sword between his legs, just avoiding the groin as his eyes went wide.

“Like you’d have a chance with her. And we’re nothing alike.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there…” Hattori began, mockingly thinking to himself as the gold eyed woman took back her blade. “I mean, at least I’m not some crazy bitch who became a shadowbender all because-”

But his words were interrupted with a quick fist to the face from the one-eyed woman who became enraged at his choice of words.

“AAHH!!”

“YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU KNOW _NOTHING!!_ ”

“AH, DAMMIT! Why the nose?!?” Hattori cried out in pain, feeling blood begin to drip from it. “I hope my blood gets on the good linen!”

“Look, we get what we’re telling you sounds crazy, heck, Lin keeps saying it is, but it’s all true, every single sentence!” Opal pleased, trying to get them to listen as Izumi shook her head.

“You’ve given us nothing but nonsense, you and your friends have all been stalking Korra and her friends, while taking their forms since this morning.”

“Because we are them, we’ve been trying to protect her! What do we-”

“Le-fa-ta-va…” The six then noticed Lin having lowered her head, making odd sounds out of her mouth in rhythm.

“What’s Not-Me doing?” The alternative Lin asked as the sounds from Lin’s mouth began to become more clearer.

“Lea-fro-tha-Vin…”

“Aunt Lin? What are you-”

“Quiet Opal, let me focus and remember!” Lin said back at Opal before getting back to making the sounds before remembering what she needed to say, her voice cracking a slight bit as she… began to sing.

“ _Leaves from the vine…_ ”

Hearing those words coming out of Lin’s mouth got Hattori’s attention as he began remembering the lyrics.

“ _Falling so slow…_ ” He sang as Lin turned to him, giving a slight smile at him which he returned, turning to the other Lin, Izumi and Hatori as Opal spotted this universe’s Toph taking notice.

“ _Like fragile tiny shells…_ ” Both Lin and Hattori began to sing together, if quite poorly, but they didn’t care. “ _Drifting in the foam… Little soldier boy/girl…_ ” Both chief's took notice of the other changing up the last lyric slightly, but kept going. “ _Come marching home..._ ”

“ _Brave soldier boy and girl…_ ” Toph began to sing along, her normally unmoving glazed over eyes were now looking to be misty eyed, approaching the three captives as the other three watched in a mixture of confusion and surprise. “ _Comes marching home…_ ”

Once the singing had stopped, Toph had to close her eyes as both Hatori and the other Lin were caught off guard. “Mother?” Both women asked the woman who gave birth to them.

“I’m letting them go.”

“What?” Izumi asked, confused as well.

“I said I'm letting them go, they’re telling the truth!” Toph yelled out before opening her hands, freeing the three from their platinum bondage.

“Oh, thank you.” Opal said as Toph ruffled her hair.

“Ah, it ain’t much.”

“Mother, you were just calling them crazy, why do you suddenly believe them?” Hatori asked as suddenly her katana was taken out of her hand and bended back into her sheath as Toph held her hand up, moving it back into her daughter's bedroom.

“Before I gave birth to any of you…” Toph began before pointing her hand at a surprised Izumi. “Her great-uncle Iroh taught me the lyrics of that song to sing as a lullaby to my children. I may have been what alot of people would call a shitty parent, but I made sure I sang that song at least once to every one of my children.”

“I remembered you, or my mother, singing it when I and Suyin were little.” Lin said as Toph nodded as Hattori looked up at her.

“Same here.”

“Yes, and I sang it to you Lin.” The master earthbender pointed at her actual daughter, then at Opal. “I sang it to Suyin…” Then finally, she pointed at Hatori. “And before I gave you to Hattori Hanzo The VII and his wife, I sang it for you.”

The old woman then helped the three up from the seats. “I don’t need earthbending to know they’re now telling the truth…” She smiled, closing her eyes. “Even if they butchered the song with their horrible singing.”

“Thank you?” Hattori said, confused at how to feel about this.

“Also, we have a guest.” Toph then brought up.

“We do?” Izumi asked before the door slammed open, all seven people in the house seeing Kya at the door.

“Okay, took me forever to track you down with just your aura, but…” Kya began saying before noticing the group of people with those she knew, including one she didn’t quite know. “... why does the lady with the eyepatch look like Hattori?”

“Long story…” Both Lin’s sighed out before noticing what the other just said at the same time.

* * *

"Man, school was SOOO boring," Bolin said as they were left the hotel, needing to get out. "I mean, I thought it would be more fun than that."

Mako and Thuy followed along, hand in hand, as Bolin started complaining about the math class they had. They listened to him at first, but as he started babbling on about it, they slowly zoned out. 

"Hey!" A voice caught the group's attention and they turned to look. It was the universe's versions of themselves walking up, including Wu, who stepped forward to talk to them. 

"You're them new kids, right?" he said and they nodded. "Where are you from?" 

"Err..." Mako looked across at the others. "Omashu."

Wu smiled. "Earth Kingdom? Nice! My ancestors are said to be related to the royal family!"

This universe's Mako rolled his eyes. "No one knows who the actual descendants of the long gone royals are well enough to argue with him. Anyway, did you guys want to come with us for dinner? We're going to a noodle bar we like."

The crew looked at each other. "Sure! Why not? I'm famished!" Thuy finally answered. 

"Great!" Wu said. "Come on, you can tell us about yourselves on the way."

Mako cleared his throat. "Ah well... there really isn't much to say."

"Oh come on! I bet lots of interesting things happened in Omashu!" Their Opal said. "We all took a trip there, so awesome."

"Well actually," Bolin started, earning a concerned look from his brother as he started making things up. "We're exchange students. We always get the opportunity to travel to new places for a few weeks, and me and the gang here chose Republic City. We thought it would be a change from the Earth Kingdom vibes."

"Is that so?" Wu said. "So what school do you go to in Omashu?"

Bolin gulped. "Err... The... General Highschool of Omashu?" 

Wu raised an eyebrow, looking up as he thought, as though he was trying to remember. "I see. Not heard of that one, but I've got a cousin living in the same city. He's always saying he loves going to the park near the Western wall after school. Do you guys know it?"

"Oh yeah! Totally!" Bolin said. "Right guys?" 

"Yeah," Mako chuckled. "We... we totally get ice cream there sometimes."

“So yummy yum.” Thuy said with a nod, rubbing her stomach.

It felt like a weight was lifted off their shoulders as they saw the noodle bar come up in the distance. It wasn't like they knew it to be though - the front was lit up with bright signs and through the windows they couldn't see any waiters, just customers typing their order in on the screens. Just when they thought they had this universe pegged down.

"There's a shorter way, this way," their Opal said, leading them off the side of the sidewalk and between two buildings. The alleyway seemed to curve round the back, but it didn't seem like it would get them there any faster. 

"You sure this is-" Thuy started, but before she could finish, the ground raised around all three's feet, trapping them as they realized both Bolin and _Wu_ had earthbended them in place.

"There is no park by the Western Wall," Wu said. "Omashu doesn't even have walls anymore."

The crew gulped, looking at the angry high school seniors that had so quickly trapped them.

"Look 'ere..." Thuy said. "We can explain."

The other Mako held up a small fireball in his hand. "Let's hear it."

_Twenty minutes later..._

As the three members of the crew finished explaining the different universes, the four students looked at each other, no idea what to believe. 

"You're telling us you're actually... _us?_ " Opal said. "That there's multiple universes?"

"And not just that, but there's an evil Avatar out there?" Mako said. 

"Yeah, excuse us for not buying it." Wu added. 

"Look, I know it sounds strange but we really are you. Just different versions of you." Thuy said, but seeing as the others weren't believing them she turned to the alternate version of Mako. "Look, I know why you and Thuy, the other me, broke up. I know she's a descendent of Avatar Hiromi and she went to research her heritage at some Fire Sanctuary, or whatever it's called in this world. We've been there too in a different universe." 

This Mako frowned. There was no way she could have known that.

Heck, he hadn't told anyone other than his friends who looked at him in surprise, and he knew Thuy had mostly kept it a secret too. "Guys," he said slowly, still processing what this meant. "I think they're telling the truth." 

Wu and Bolin both looked at each other and shrugged, letting them go. 

"So it's true?" Wu said. "Someone really is trying to kill our Korra?" 

Mako nodded. "Unfortunately so. But we're here to make sure it doesn't happen."

They took a moment to let everything sink in. In the span of a few minutes, everything they knew seemed to have been turned upside down. Then, both Bolin's stomachs rumbled. 

"Hey, is there any way we could still go get noodles? The food at the school was terrible." Bolin said, to his alter self's approval. 

The crews nodded, and they stepped out of the alley. Perhaps a pit stop for some dinner wouldn't hurt. 

* * *

Things were heating up between the couple, but Korra couldn't ignore the presence she felt. With her feet not on the ground, she couldn't feel the seismic vibrations as good. She hated to do this, especially in her current state, but she couldn't push it to the back of her mind. 

"Asami, wait a moment," she said, which the engineer in training stopped what she was doing. 

"You alright?" She asked, looking up, cheeks flushed, her hair a tangled mess. 

This universe’s Korra stood up, feeling the floor with her bare feet, a concentrated look on her face as she mapped it all out in her head. 

"Don't panic," she said, which immediately made Asami stand up too, throwing her top back on. "I think there's someone in the bathroom. Three people actually."

She grabbed her clothes too and they walked slowly down the hall to investigate. Korra held her arms out in a defensive stance while Asami grabbed a nearby hockey stick to defend herself as they approached the bathroom and as they got close enough, she gave the door a kick, making it swing open with a bang. 

The three intruders let out a scream at the sudden entrance, and the couple stopped in their tracks. 

"What the-" The defensive Korra said, keeping her arms up. "Aren’t you the new kids?" 

The three of them stared wide eyed at the couple. They had no backup plan if they were to be found. 

"Yes..." Asami said, trying not to provoke them. "We... are."

"What are you doing in my house? What do you have planned?!?" The modern Avatar who lived there questioned. 

"Listen, we can explain," Sami walked forward, then immediately realized her mistake. 

"Stay back!" The angry Korra yelled, conjuring two fireballs in her hands as her Asami rose up her weapon, making the crew retreat further back into the bathroom. "There's nowhere for you to go, so don't try anything!"

"We don't want to hurt you!" Korra said to her alter self. "We're looking out for you! You're in danger."

"Looking out for me? By sneaking into my house? Already bad enough you were stalking us!"

"We didn't want to raise the alarm and it was the only way to keep a close eye on you! You're being hunted by a shadowbender corrupted by Sha-Garou and-"

"Wait, were you here all along?" The Asami of this universe asked the three of them. "Were you hiding all this time? Did you...?" 

They looked at each other, knowing what she was suggesting. Answering this honestly would surely lead to a severely awkward moment. 

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." Sami finally answered, hoping that it would be enough to deter any further questioning. 

The couple bought it, letting the shadowbender sigh.

"Anyway, a shadowbender is coming for-"

"I heard you the first time, but that’s impossible," This universe’s Korra said. "We got rid of Sha-Garou after I energybended him out of Hatori!" 

"Multiverse theory is so annoying..." Korra muttered, earning a nudge from Asami. 

"I know it's hard to believe but we're actually from different universes and we're trying to help you! There’s others who can verify what we’re saying!" Sami carried on. 

The younger Asami looked at her girlfriend. "Are they telling the truth?" 

This universe's Korra concentrated. She couldn't feel them lying, but she put it down to her lack of experience at seismic sensing. "I can't tell," she said. "Come on, give us some proof, actual proof! Not just… words."

Sami wasn't going to stand there and take that. Without a warning, she dropped down into the shadows, and the different Avatar and her girlfriend panicked, frantically looking around the bathroom for where she went. Just as suddenly, she reappeared behind them, giving both of them a tap on the shoulder so they spun round to face her glowing red eyes. 

"Now you believe us?" 

The two of them glanced from her, to the other two, and back to her.

Slowly, the younger Korra lowered her defensive stance, getting rid of the fire she was holding as the third Asami approached her other self, lowering her weapon as she reached out to her, realizing what this meant. 

"No way, _I’VE_ become a shadowbender?"

Sami nodded, her eyes going back to normal. "Sadly, yes. But there's a much more powerful one coming for your Korra. This is what we were trying to tell you..." She said, turning her attention to the equally shocked other Korra before closing her eyes for a second before reopening them, showing her emerald eyes had turned bloodshot red and yellow

“ _And trust me Avatar Korra, you’re more closer to this other shadowbender than you realize._ ” Khu-Shui spoke through Sami.

The universe’s Korra gulped as her girlfriend covered her mouth in shock at the voice they knew. Now the couple was willing to listen. 

* * *

“... and that’s the thick of it.” Hattori said, having finally finished the story of the crew’s adventures up to this point along with Lin, Kya and Opal, explaining everything that had led to them three sitting on the couch explaining to this universe’s Lin, Toph, Izumi and Hatori.

Grabbing the bottle of whiskey he brought, he opened it and poured himself a glass, holding it in hand. “That’s why we've been following your Korra and her friends, to protect her from a more evil version of her.” He said before downing the drink with ease, letting the hotness of the liquid burn his throat.

“Even know it’s that damn shadow spirit who's making her do all of this.” Lin mentioned.

“Okay, maybe if you began with mentioning Sha-Garou, we would have bought your story more.” Toph said in a matter of fact tone as she sat on the floor which the three Beifong’s not native to the universe and Kya had to agree with.

“Apologizes Grandma Toph…” Opal said, now having to get used to interacting with another version of her grandmother. “But we’ve been through so many different universes, we’ve only had a few moments to really clear our heads since we’ve been trying to stop Dark Korra. This is actually the longest we've had a break.”

“And now, you’re saying the only way to stop Sha-Garou for good is to kill this evil Korra while he’s still in her body?” This universe’s Lin asked to which the four silently nodded. “Is Asami, the… shadowbender one from this 'Dark Korra-verse', she’s okay with this?”

“She’s the one who insisted that we had to do it after we found out there’s no Bright Spirits left to kill Sha-Garou.” Lin answered her other self’s question, now taking Hattori’s glass to his protests and began pouring herself a drink from the bottle, only for Kya to take the full glass herself and drink it all to her three allies' surprise.

Lin was especially the most surprised at what her lover just did as she never really drank the more powerful forms of liquor, maybe except for some Cactus Juice.

“Judging by her aura I felt when she said those words, it’s something that she knows has to be done, but is still unsure if she could do it or not.” Kya explained, the taste of the whiskey stinging her throat, but she pushed through. “She’s at battle with herself.”

“When the time comes, she’ll know what must be done.” Hattori noted before just taking note of Hatori having been sitting in the corner on the ground, Izumi at her side, noticing the two hadn’t said a word since they confirmed that the events of the one-eyed woman happening in the other universes, with this entire adventure happening because of what transpired in Lin and Opal’s universe.

“I must ask, Hattori and Lin Hanzo… did they… ever meet… well, the me’s of their universes?” Toph asked, having her blind eyes seemingly focused on the stone cup full of her tea, yet sensing how her daughters were acting, especially Hatori.

“Yes, and even after everything she found out, she still considered Hattori her son.” Opal answered as she knew Lin didn’t want to speak of it, only confirming it by taking her niece's hand in her own, letting some tears fall. “And her daughters consider him their brother, even if my mother never got to meet him. And he is my uncle.”

“And you Guy Hattori?” Toph asked, having to call Hattori that nickname to separate him from her daughter of the almost same name, to which he easily nodded along.

“Same answer as the kid, my mother didn’t care what my Lin had done, she was still her daughter. It took awhile for me, my Opal and Suyin to accept her as family…” He then took Lin’s other hand in his own, looking at her with a kind smile. “But if I could go back in time and find a way to save Lin, if just to hear her be a smartass and call me “brother” one more time, I would.”

Even for someone who tried not to give as much emotion as it wasn’t her bag, there were the moments that this universe’s Toph gave in to them.

From having to be at the funerals of some of her closest friends and family, to when she finally made up with Lin and Suyin for the mistakes she made as a mother during the Earth Empire fiasco, when she finally met and bonded with the daughter she had to give up so many years later, even as they sat in an interrogation room.

Hearing that even in other dimensions, no matter the changes, the Beifongs become stronger than ever before as a family always puts a small tear in her eye.

“I’m happy to hear that…”

Opal gave one of her sunny smiles hearing that before just hearing a sniffle from Hatori and Izumi’s direction, looking at the couple. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing kiddo, it’s nothing…” Hatori said simply in a small tone before she slightly lifted her hand up and touched her guitar, sliding it, her wife holding her closer.

“... so, if I had to guess, events were no different for her either?” Hattori asked, watching the female version of him just begin to cry silently as Izumi looked up at him, a small look of worry on her face. “I mean, in _my_ universe, I was in a relationship with Izumi too.”

That caught the former Fire Nation princess by surprise as Hattori had to snicker, taking another glass as Kya nor Lin hadn’t given his back.

“Yeah, I wasn’t kidding when I said me and Lady me there had the same taste in women…” He then sighed, looking at the glass. “Nice to see she didn’t make the same mistake that I made. She said yes… I said no.” He noted, remembering what Sami and Khu-Shui explained to him about each universe being different.

“Spirits, I fucking hate multiverse theory…” He muttered to himself.

“I assume that’s a mistake you’re still hung up on?” This universe’s Lin asked her alter brother who nodded his head, preparing himself another glass of the drink.

“At least until I get the chance to talk to my Izumi one last time, if just so I can tell her how wrong I was...”

“There is something I am curious about though…” Opal asked, now standing up and approaching Hatori and Izumi, kneeling down next to them, seeking to comfort the one-eyed woman.

“In mine, Aunt Lin and Kya’s universe, my uncle lost his wife and daughter, Ula and Karai. And in Uncle Hattori’s universe, Lin Hanzo lost her wife Sakura…”

“... please don’t…” Izumi just heard Hatori whisper in a soft, hushed tone, hearing her voice shake, raising her hand up to her eyepatch.

She knew what this meant. “Opal…” The daughter of the fire lord began to say, trying to get her attention, yet the Airbender hadn’t taken notice.

“If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Ah, Opal…” Kya herself began saying, having just sensed Hatori’s aura changing in an unnatural way as the young woman kept asking.

“Who did you lose?”

“Kid, _stop it._ ” The alter version of her grandmother began to warn herself, already sensing along with her Lin what might happen as Hattori and Lin's attention focused on what was going on, beginning to stand up as Opal looked at Toph, not knowing what was about to happen as Hatori took off her eyepatch.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know their na-”

“Shut up, SHUT UP, _JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!_ ” Hatori screamed out, her voice full of pain as she turned to look the airbender right into her green eyes.

The young girl was shocked to see the massive wound where Hatori's left blind eye was, a noticeable scar running down along it in conjunction with it looking like the single glazed over eyeball of her’s was stabbed into and hadn't healed.

The airbender saw the hurt in the woman’s lone good gold eye, and so did Hattori, Lin and Kya who were caught completely off guard by the outburst and what was under the eyepatch the woman gripped.

The sight reminded both Lin and Hattori each of the first time they had saw the wounds their long lost siblings had.

Hatori's breathing hitched up, trying her best to control it with what the man who raised her taught her. But it wouldn't, she just felt the tears fall from both of her eyes, looking at everyone seeing her in this state, even her own wife who tried to reach out to her. Yet she pulled away from Izumi, standing up and taking the guitar in hand.

And without a word, the woman walked as fast as she could out of the room, pushing past her sister, leaving the room in silence as the four travelers were confused, yet concerned at what just happened.

With the sound of a door opening and slamming shut not long after, Opal looked at Izumi, who too began to tear up, sitting down on the rugged floor next to Toph, taking the bottle of whiskey and began drinking it from the bottle as her mother-in-law comforted her.

“It’s not your fault Opal, you didn’t know, none of you wouldn’t have known…” Toph said in a voice that barely anyone had ever heard her use, that of a saddened mother as she took the bottle of liquor away from Izumi, holding her in her arms. “It’s okay Izumi, it’s okay…” She said in a hushed tone, patting her

“... wh- _what_ didn’t we know?” Lin asked for the four as she saw her modern self kneel down next to Toph and Izumi on the ground, joining in on the comfort hug.

“Do you want me to…?” The Chief of this universe began asking in her own soft tone to Izumi who shook her head, taking her glasses off and wiping her eyes, looking at the four, knowing they had to know the truth after what they just witnessed.

“Before me and Hatori met, five years ago, she had a wife, Jissika… and a stepdaughter, Miki, who turned out to be a waterbender.”

“And those Equalist’s made Hatori accidently kill them before they killed her?” Hattori asked with a solemn voice, pissed and furious that the same events seemingly happened here too, only to see Izumi look up at him, her eyes trembling at the truth of what actually happened.

“No, those Equalists murdered all three, but before they did…” Izumi corrected, not wanting to say the rest as she felt the hug from both Beifong women in her life tighten, just then hearing what sounded like notes of a guitar from her bedroom being made.

“... what?” Kya asked, not prepared for Izumi about to let the words come out, and the four members of the crew then wished they didn’t know the truth.

“They beat _and raped_ Hatori and Jissika.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... fuck... after everything, that last sentence brought the mood down, huh? I mean, there's all of our crew managing to convince those of this universe, and sassy Wu, of the truth and what's coming, all with their own humorous and fun parts (Yes, even Hattori getting punched in the nose by Hatori) and even a reference to Uncle Iroh and Toph's friendship, leading into the "Leaves from the Vine" bit.
> 
> ... then comes the truth at the end... that in this universe, Hatori wasn't an former Equalist who had tried to hide her loved ones, realized they were captured and accidently murdered them thanks to the Equalist's before being killed herself... but that she and her wife were raped beforehand... and so, that leads into next chapter which no lie, the flashback scene of it was one of the hardest things for me to write. I'll be forward and say upfront it's only the end of... you know before the rest of the flashback, but... so you all know, a early MASSIVE trigger warning ahead of time, me and Coniine wouldn't have wrote it without giving it the respect the topic deserves, being as respectful as we could as some readers may be indeed triggered by it.
> 
> So, again, heads up next chapter. Until then, hope regardless, you all enjoyed the chapter and stick with us... oh, where's more sassy Wu when you need him.


	17. Chapter Sixteen- Ballad of The Damaged Eyed Woman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... :Sighs again: Okay, just gonna say this now, MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING for this chapter as it involves gory violence, including the death of a child, the use of some bender related slurs, severe PTSD and... references to and the end of rape. :Sighs again, drink some nearby unsweetened tea: No lie, it's gonna be a rough one. If anything about the latter triggering topic gets to you, use Ctrl+F and look for "... She had done everything.", it's after... the roughness, but I wouldn't blame you for doing so, cause me and Coniine care.
> 
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Hatori had to get out of the room, she had to be alone, it was all coming back to her. She knew this different universe version or whatever of her niece didn’t know what happened, she knew those other three didn’t know it either.

But the more Opal talked to her, the more the memories came back with every single word coming out of her mouth triggering the images of what she endured ringing loudly in her mind.

Even as she screamed for the girl to shut up, it was too late, she saw their faces… those horrible faces… _smiling… laughing_ at what they did.

Then she heard the screaming in her mind. Not just her screaming, but Jissika’s… and Miki’s… but even trying to control her breathing like how Hattori Hanzo The VII taught her when she was only a pre-teen, it proved to be pointless as it was too late as she pulled herself away from her wife’s hands.

Hatori took the acoustic guitar in hand and rushed out of the room, pushing past her sister who had been there for her after the Avatar got Sha-Garou out of her, not even bothering to turn back to look at her mother nor her own wife.

She needed to be alone, opening the door to her and Izumi’s bedroom and slamming it shut as hard as she could as she stood alone, knowing the truth was going to come out in the other room.

She then looked down at the guitar in hand, seeing the art painted on, rather crudely, but she didn’t care, grabbing a guitar pick off the clothes drawer, laying next to a picture frame with a photo of her and Izumi on their wedding day.

Hatori looked at it, seeing her and Izumi at the reception, with Toph, Lin, Suyin, Opal and Kuvira at her side, while next to her wife was Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Lady Mai, Iroh II, his husband Haku, and Mihoshi.

In her mind, it changed and was now replaced with one of her standing in the wedding aisles at the home of the Southern Water Tribe alongside a beautiful tanned skin woman with her long black hair looped around the back, a beautiful betrothal necklace around her neck. And standing in front of them was a young girl of six years, who looked like the splitting image of her mother, only with grey eyes instead of her mother’s blue

Their names were Jissika and Miki.

The former shadowbender shook her head, tears falling as she sat down on the bed, looking at the beautiful instrument in her hand plucking a string and tuning it at the headstock, making sure it was right.

Whenever Hatori would have these moments, being alone as she played the guitar would calm her down. It’d never fully do the job, but it numbed the pain just enough.

And with that, she began playing some notes on the guitar, her fingers gliding along the frets and strings with grace and ease as she moved the pick over the strings, the words coming off her lips.

“ _Guru, guru… Is this some conspiracy?_ ” Hatori sang to herself, the tone of her voice shaking, but soft and caring as she kept playing and singing. “ _Tortured for my mistake…_ ” She then turned back to the photo, seeing it was back to being the one of her and Izumi. “ _An image beneath me…_ ”

She then focused back on the guitar strings. “ _Lost within our plans for life… It all seems so unreal…_ ” She saw a tear drop onto the guitar, right onto the blue painted snowflake.

“ _I'm a woman cut in half in this world… Left in my misery…_ ”

The one-eyed woman had to stop, hearing it all in her head once more, closing her good eye as the wounded one looked down at the guitar, another tear drop hitting the guitar.

* * *

_The woman from the Southern Water Tribe laid on the ground, her clothes having been torn off of her as pain coursed through her entire body as she could barely move, her azure blue eyes unmoving, unblinking as she had watched the woman she loved give a silent scream at what she was forced to do against her own will._

_“MOMMY!” The mother heard her child cry out, having to try blocking out what unspeakable things were happening to the woman who gave birth to her and her wife by holding her ears and closing her eyes shut as tight as she could, all done by nine sick and vile men who had been laughing and hollering as they assaulted the couple._

_“Point of our lesson, NEVER sink so low to THEIR level…” One of the rapists hissed into Hatori’s ears, the woman with the one gold eye and the other glazed over barely making a sound as she felt the so-called man get off of her, making sure to slap her hard in the face before throwing her face first onto the deck._

_Hatori’s beaten and naked body had landed on the hard wooden planks with a thud, the woman unable to process how this could have happened, unable to cry, scream or even make any sound after the fourth member had his way with her._

_She had done everything she could to hide Jissika and Miki, to make sure her fellow Equalists would not find out about them, that she could hide the fact that her stepdaughter just began waterbending._

_Yet they found out, somehow, the Equalists found out, leading her here to the docks by Yue Bay to discuss some recent problems, only to realize it was a trap when she saw her wife and stepdaughter held at electric glove and pole point._

_Even as she fought back and killed some, it was too much… she wasn’t powerful enough to protect Jissika and Miki… to stop these men from doing what they just did to her and her wife’s bodies._

_But then Hatori felt finger tips touch hers, ever so gently, yet shaking, just moving her eyes to see Jissika was trying to reach out to her, those azure blue eyes just wondering..._

_“Why?” Jissika cried out softly before lifting her head up, looking at the nine rapists, and the one man who had stayed off on the side, unable to make a move except look off into the bay, regret in his eyes. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?!” She screamed out_

_Then one of them, who both had heard referred to as Kogua, laughed out loud, at this, holding his slimy hands onto a struggling Miki, his hand holding her by the chin, making the waterbender look at the sight of her parents laying there violated._

_“She wants to know, why us Equalist’s had to teach a lesson about dating a watersplasher…” Kogua mockingly said, pulling the now struggling girl into the arms of one of the others. “Here, she’d make for a good choice of bending meat for the Pleasure Factory…” He muttered before looking down at Jissika before turning and taking a glance at Hatori._

_“Should I really tell her, Hatori?” Dripped out of his mouth, his fat cheeks stretched out from his smile. “Seeing as this is ALL YOUR FAULT.”_

_Jissika moved her head towards her wife, who shook at what he was going to say._

_“Oh, she never told you, DID SHE?”_

_Her hand slowly moving out to her wife, Hatori’s finger with the wedding band moved ever so close to Jissika’s own._

_“... I-I… I’m so… sorry…” Was all Hatori could say in her weakened voice, just before she caught sight of the blade of the katana made by the man who raised her come straight down towards the top of Jissika’s black hair._

* * *

All four travelers were in complete and utter silence as they listened to the story as the alter Lin sat on her knees, holding back the tears as Toph held a sickened Izumi in her arms.

“Why?... why would they do that, why would he just kill Jissika like that?” Opal, finally speaking, tried to process, knowing that many forms of evil existed in the world. Yet it was so easy to forget in a world like theirs, you don’t need to be a bender or spirit to commit the worst possible act one could do to another.

“If I had to guess, to make the pain much worse.” The Lin of this universe answered in a small tone, remembering verbatim the story Sha-Garou told her in that interrogation room, how the corrupt officer Hatori swore lead the gangrape escaped the premises, becoming a wanted man before the host took back control, vowing she was going to make him suffer the most for the deaths of Jissika and Miki.

“I know the story ain’t done yet, but truth be told…” Hattori began, drinking another glass of the whiskey before needing Toph to take the bottle away from him, the hate and anger in his voice _very_ evident. “I don’t blame lady me for wanting everyone of them motherfuckers dead, to put them down like the monsters they are.”

Both Lin and Opal exchanged worried looks at the tone of voice he spoke in, it was almost like a vicious snarl of rage, which was out of character for the male Chief.

In fact, _he sounded EXACTLY like how their Hattori was_ back in that brothel, having just murdered Vullok and aimed his sights at Asuki.

“Or maybe that’s just the whiskey finally kicking in and talking.” He shrugged as Izumi lowered her head.

“From what Hatori told me, Miki took it just as bad…”

* * *

_“...Mama?… Mama?!” Miki began calling out, having just seen Kogua drive the blade into her mother’s skull, the blood pooling out from her head, slowly realizing what just happened to the woman who gave birth to her “.... Mama! MAMA!”_

_All Hatori could do was watch wide-eyed at the corpse of her wife, staring back at her with her dead eyes, the red blood moving around her right one._

_“MMAAAMMAAA!!” She heard Miki scream out louder, the woman just now able to get on her wrists and move up, just in time to see her stepdaughter struggle in the arms of those Equalists holding her, wanting to rush over to her mother’s corpse._

_“KEEP HER IN PLACE!” Kogua yelled out to the two._

_“I'm trying here!” One yelled out as the waterbender kicked and screamed._

_“MAMA! MAMA!.... AAAAAHHHHH!!!!”_

_With a high pitched scream, the child waved her hands down, causing the water around them to form around them into tentacles, reaching out at the ten Equalists, lashing and trying to grip at them as Miki broke free, her grey eyes burned in anger, seeking their blood._

_“Ah! AH! NO!” One equalist yelled out before two water tentacles grabbed him by his throat and waist before pulling hard enough away to rip his body in two as blood splattered across the dock, everyone ducking for cover, with Kogua falling backwards against a loose nail on a beam, which cut into his neck._

_“FUCKING LITTLE BITCH!” He yelled out, holding his neck, even if the wound wasn’t deep, it still hurt and was going to leave a scar._

_Another equalist tried to grab the small girl with an electric rod, hoping to shock and knock her out._

_But Miki, with an angry snarl, lashed her hand backwards, water over her hand which turned into an ice blade, cutting the hand holding the weapon off the equalist’s wrist, causing blood to squirt out of the wound as he screamed._

_Yet the guy didn’t have the chance to do anything else before Miki, forming up another ice blade, lunged onto him, relentlessly stabbing him in the chest, torso and throat with her makeshift weapons, screaming in rage at what she had seen._

_Hatori could only watch the girl she helped raise with Jissika murder these men, horrified to see such an action happen, just then seeing her jump on the guy who had not been involved with the gangrape._

_“Someone do something about that-” Kogua tried ordering as he pointed his finger at Miki, only to lose all sense of control in his arm, watching as his arm began moving on it’s own until he looked up as he, those still dealing with the water tentacles and Hatori realized what was happening._

_With hate in her eyes, Miki somehow was using bloodbending against the man who killed her mother with one hand, the other keeping the other man down as he struggled against her icy grip as she had so many plans for them, not noticing the man in her grasp instinctively grabbing something from his jacket._

_“MIKI, WATCH OUT!” Hatori cried out, but it was too late, the vengeful look in the small girl’s eyes was replaced with that of confusion, shock and pain, looking down at the Equalist she was on top of, holding up a knife right into her chest, right where her heart was._

_The woman with the mismatched eyes watched in horror as the girl’s arm dropped, freeing Kogua, before Miki gave a quick glimpse at her step-mother._

_“... mommy?” Was all the girl could ask before falling down dead on the side, the man crawling away after taking the knife out, shaking his head in fright at what he just had done, swearing to the others he didn’t mean to do it._

_“NNNOOOOO!!!!!” Hatori cried out as the two most important people in her life were now dead, and it was all because of her._

* * *

Having just played more of her guitar as she sang, the memories still burned in Hatori’s head, Jissika with the katana blade in her skull, Miki having that knife stabbed into her little heart.

Other memories flashed into her mind, her and Jissika meeting in that noodle shop, being so nervous as Jissika couldn't help but find her funny, meeting Miki for the first time, the first time she and Jissika made love, playing around and painting with Miki, the big wedding where she and Jissika became one and Miki became her stepdaughter…

… the acoustic guitar Jissika and Miki got Hatori for her birthday, with the young girl having painted the blue and white snowflakes onto it herself…

_… then that horrible night happened only days later._

Strumming the guitar, Hatori kept on singing in her sad voice. “ _Well, I guess you took my youth… And gave it all away… Like the birth of a new-found joy… This love would end in rage._ ”

Stopping once more, the woman let her tears fall once more, the rest of that night coming back to her.

* * *

_“... I’ll kill you…” Hatori said in between deep painted breaths, her eyes finally getting wet with tears once more as her eyes were getting red, looking at the eight that still remained, slowly getting herself up, focusing on Kogua and the man who had done nothing to stop this._

_“I’ll kill you…” She repeated, taking her katana out of Jissika’s skull, holding it up. “I’ll kill each and EVERY-FUCKING-LAST-ONE OF YOU!!” She cried out, trying to swing in distress at Kogua with her katana, but her lack of strength from what she endured caused her to trip, dropping the blade as those seven bastards laughed at her as she hit the ground again._

_Feeling the hate come out of her mouth with every breath she took, she realized she was at the feet of the man who killed her stepdaughter, looking up into his pained eyes as he shook his head._

_“I… I didn’t mean to…” He tried to let out as Hatori slowly began getting up, grabbing him by his well dressed attire as leverage. “I didn’t know they were-”_

_“You killed them… " Hatori interrupted, looking into straight into his eyes, wanting him to look into hers. "You just stood by… why…?” She cried out at her best friend before her grief and hate came out, trying to grapple with him as he struggled. “WHY!? WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME?! WHY TARKIK?!?”_

_“LET GO!” Tarkik yelled out, not realizing he thrusted his hand out… the hand with the knife he accidently killed Miki with, realizing too late he had done it again and lowered his hand, watching the beaten and naked woman in front of him look at him with her one good eye, in disbelief at the knife shoved just enough into her other eye. “No, shit… Hatori, I-I…”_

_Realizing what he had done, all Hatori could do was grab the knife by the handle and pull out the blade slowly out of her eye, now split in two, feeling the blood drip down her cheek as she tried to process it once more._

_“Tarki- GAAAHH!!”_

_Suddenly shooting pain shot into her back and out her stomach as she looked down and saw the blade of her katana had been stabbed into her by an angry and sneering Kogua._

_“Fucking bender-loving whore…”_

_Realizing this was it, all Hatori Beifong, or Hatori Hanzo at the time, could do was stumble backwards on her two feet, looking all those who remained who had assaulted her and her wife, forced their child to watch, witnessed them be murdered, her back to Yue Bay as she looked at a remorseless Kogua and a regretful Tarkik._

_“... All of you are dead men… I’ll kill you all…” Hatori said in a low voice, giving hitched up breaths as she felt her life drain away. “... not even death can hold me…”_

_With that, the woman felt the last of her energy be spent and she felt her eyes close as she fell backwards into the water, crashing into it, the last image just before her eyes closed were of her slain family before she died for the first time._

* * *

“ _The way we were… The chance to save my soul…. And my concern is now in vain..._ ” Hatori sang to herself once more, not even bothering to play her instrument anymore as she cried out the last of the lyrics.

“ _... Believe the word… I will unlock my door… And pass the cemetery… gates…_ ”

Putting the guitar off to her side on the bed, the damaged eyed woman just sat there, crying loudly at what she lost in the past, how it was just taken from her, all because she screwed up.

“... we’re sorry about what happened to you.”

Hatori opened her misty eye, looking up to see Lin, Kya, Opal and Hattori in her room, looks of regret and sorrow in their eyes for the woman, Lin feeling her own emotions at how such horrible things could happen. The closest she, or even Hattori felt at being helpless was when Amon took their bending in their respective universes.

While obviously nowhere as bad compared what Hatori went through, Lin felt an inkling of her pain.

“What happened to you, Jissika and Miki, we’re sorry.”

“It’s… okay… none of you knew, you only had… what you experienced as reference…” Hatori tried to say in between sniffles, wiping her eyes. “They’re dead because of me, it’s my fault they died, it’s all my fault…”

With a tug at her jacket, as if trying to cover her own shame, she looked away from them… “It’s all my fault what happened to me and Jissika happened.”

“No it’s not…” Opal said, moving up to the one-eyed woman, rather timidly as to not to provoke her again by mistake. But once she saw Hatori pat the spot next to her on the bed, the airbender nodded and sat down, letting the woman put her arms around her and just cry out her feelings. “It’s not your fault.”

“You did none of those things to your family, those bastards did, you have no reason to blame yourself.” Kya assured the woman, her words having her natural kind warmth to them, even knowing what sort of topic she was talking about.

“... I was in those flames for so long…” Hatori’s voice cracked out, just having to tell them. “In the spirit world, forced to watch all the suffering I caused.”

“And what happened on the docks was what you saw the most?” Hattori asked his other self to which she nodded. “Yeah, that’s been a running theme throughout these universes. And soon, _he came?_ ”

“Yes, Sha-Garou…” Hatori said, wiping the tear off her good eye, doing the same with her damaged one. “He gave me false condolences, saying that I didn’t need to suffer because of what those bastards did, while they still walked free… and like every other Hattori Hanzo you mentioned, and your sister…” Hatori made sure to point out to her male counterpart. “I accepted his deal, to come back from the dead as a shadowbender to get my revenge five years later…”

Different sets of memories came rushing into Hatori’s mind, all rapidly like a mover in her mind she couldn’t turn off.

_From emerging from Yue Bay, having to pull her katana out of her stomach in order for the wound to heal and stealing some clothes. Coming back to her, Jissika and Miki’s home, seeing it had been abandoned after all tfive years, noticing the spirit vines having grown around it, but entering regardless._

_Seeing how untouched everything was for the most part before turning to see herself in the mirror, just then noticing the horrible wound on her face, smashing the reflective surface with her fist before screaming in loss and anger, breaking and tearing apart anything she could get her hands on._

_Stopping as soon as she saw the acoustic guitar given to her by her girls and crying as she plucked it strings._

_Finally, all those she had targeted, she saw their faces in her mind, all as Sha-Garou was telling her something, the look on her face slowly changing from grief to pure rage as her one good golden eye glowed blood red, putting on appropriate black colored clothes for such an occasion, t-shirt, a zip up hoodie jacket, pants, gloves and boots._

_“Find them… find the men who raped and murdered you and your loved ones… make them suffer, make them know your pain tenfold… RIP AND FUCKING TEAR THEM APART!”_

_More images ran throughout the damaged woman’s mind, all having to do with her finding the seven rapists._

_She found her first target in his fancy restaurant, attacking him in the kitchen as she threw him all over the area, then ripped his hands off at the wrist with her shadow tentacles. Hatori then saw a nearby bottle of cooking wine, taking it in hand before forcing it down his mouth before slamming his bulging throat down against the kitchen counter, causing blood, wine and broken glass to burst out of his throat._

_Then Hatori managed to find the second one using chi-blocking to temporarily paralyze a woman's leg in a alleyway, only to come to her rescue, bringing him over with a shadow hand and sliced his groin open with her katana before dragging him over to the side of the building and stomped down her foot onto the back of his skull against it at least ten times until the woman she saved stopped her from crushing it anymore._

_Next was her finding the third guy with two goons of his, with the first dumb bastard getting dragged into the shadows and coming out another completely skinned alive, the other getting a shadow spike thrown into his knee before partially bisecting him vertically with a single swing of her katana. Lastly, she had her target drawn and quartered into the air by shadow tentacles, watching him be ripped apart into pieces with a wicked smile as sirens wailed nearby._

_Then there was the Pleasure Factory where those two brothers ran it, both having violated her and Jissika at the same time. After a hard fought battle against the bigger one, Hatori ran her sword through the man and tackled him into the shadows, dropping out from one on the ceiling of the main room where Korra, Lin and their allies had been trying to warn the other brother, not knowing the truth._

_The big one’s head burst like a melon upon impact on the ledge of the stage. After fending off The Avatar’s crew, she got her hands on number five, beating him outside the building before taking and ripping his jaw off with her bare hands and throwing him into the path of an oncoming bus. Morgue attendants had to literally scrape the body off the road with a shovel._

_After turning herself in and dealing with some annoying “Fans” of hers, including a rapist who made the worst move to brag about his crimes to her, Hatori told Lin and Korra about what had happened to her, where she had been staying as they had guessed correctly, and also finally meeting her mother._

_She didn’t remember killing the next target as Sha-Garou forced himself to take control to escape the prison, though Hatori was told the remains of him were like “pulled picken” by the time the spirit was done with him._

_Then there was Kogua and Tarkik left. Before she revealed the dirty cop was the ringleader, the bastard actually escaped custody while she was in prison, with the spirit taking control against her own will to find them, trying to hide._

_Turns out Kogua tried roping Tarkik back in to save his worthless hide, but Hatori's former best friend had turned a new leaf, wanting to repent and redeem himself for his part in what happened, having become a Air Acolyte since then, where he met the man who’d later become his husband, ironically eventually becoming an airbender through Harmonic Convergence._

“I was saving Kogua for last, to make him really suffer. So I had Tarkik right where I wanted him, but…” Hatori stopped, shaking her head. “I couldn’t kill him, I saw in his eyes that he was ready to die for his part, what he didn’t prevent from happening… I knew Tarkik was still paying for his mistakes and accepted what I wanted to do to him without a fight.”

“So, Sha-Garou never took full control?” Lin asked which her other universe sister shook her head.

“Oh no, he still tried. Kogua was a bastard to the end and attempted to give me one last “Fuck you” by throwing my katana at me… only for Tarkik to push me out of the way…” Hatori still remembered seeing the look in the airbender’s eyes as he stood there, the blade in his chest, asking for her to forgive him before falling dead on the ground.

Then Hatori looked up at the same katana now hanging above the door. “Sha-Garou then forced control again and did the rest.” She remembered her hand being thrust into the rapist's mouth and down his throat, gripping on something inside his body, along with hearing what the spirit said in her mind at the moment Lin, Korra and the others arrived too late, watching her _rip the man’s spinal cord out from the torn open mouth._

“ _Huh, guess he wasn’t so spineless after all._ ”

“And… Well, as you can tell, a big ol’ battle happened, I was freed of Sha-Garou by Korra with her energybending, we destroyed him and… here we are.” Hatori said, finally able to breathe properly after telling all of that, letting all her sadness and anger out. “I still have the occasional panic attack or two, but I’ve been recovering as slow as I need to.”

She sighed, pointing outside the room. “Clearly, I still have a lot more time to heal, but you don’t just recover from what I went through overnight.” She snarked, trying to use humor to defuse the situation, but it was clear that wouldn’t work in this case.

“So… how does Izumi fit in all of this?” Hattori asked, curious about that before noticing, along with the others, the former Fire Princess walking in.

“Because, she saved my life from one of those bastards who tried assaulting me in an alleyway.” She said, kneeling in front of her wife, remembering herself having to pull the Equalist Ripper away from the body, even with her one leg being useless for a short while at the time.

“I owed her my life, at least a favor, so during the investigation after we bumped into each other again, I hid her here, finding out more about her as she did what she did.”

That got Lin's attention. “Wait, does your sister know?” She asked, finding this completely out of left field.

“Took her awhile to figure out, but yeah, Lin knew Izumi was indirectly involved. In fact, Korra, mother, Suyin, all our friends and allies, they knew.” Hatori said as she held her wife’s hand with Izumi looking up into both her good and bad eyes as she moved some of her black strung out hair out of the way.

“But by the time you escaped from prison, after I saw you interact with Toph for that first time, I realized that I didn’t care that some evil spirit was trying to corrupt you or what those men did to you and your family before you died, I only saw the woman who played that guitar late at night, crying for her wife and daughter, who sat at my side when I shared my loss, sharing positive memories… I fell in love not with the Equalist Ripper, I fell in love _WITH YOU._ ”

Izumi then looked at the travelers. “After the murders, even though they won’t admit it publicly, Lin and Korra lied to the press and officials, they said that Hatori wasn’t to blame when those men were killed, that Sha-Garou was in control of her body during the murders. And for the most part, they bought it.”

She then looked at a surprised Hattori, giving him a knowing smile. “I told you that there was much more to the story.”

She then looked into her wife’s eyes, wiping a stray tear that remained from the damaged eye. “I love you, Hatori Beifong, as much as I loved Kyo, as much as I love my own children, and…”

She then put her hand in her pocket, confusing the one-eyed woman as she took out a cellphone, a slight smile on her face. “Well, while you were talking to our guests, my father called, of course at the worst time, and…”

“... _and?_ ” Hatori asked, wondering where this was going as Izumi couldn’t help but laugh at this reaction.

“He’s stepping down as Fire Lord, he’s not made public yet, but he’ll be announcing it in the next week or two. As it turns out... he’s asked me if I'd take the title and throne.”

“WHAT?!” Hatori said out loud, surprised to hear this, as was everyone. But none more so than Hattori himself, who knew EXACTLY what was happening. “Are you going to… Well…” The woman asked her wife who titled her head up at her, a small grin in her face.

“I told him I'd consider it on one condition…” She answered in a playful tone before putting her hand on her wife’s neck. “As long you were to become _my Fire Lady_.”

Hatori’s single good eye went wide, and if she could still move her eyelid over the bad eye of hers, it’d be doing the same, holding her hands over her mouth, looking all over the room. “Oh SPIRITS, tell me I’m not dreaming…”

“YOU’RE NOT!” Toph’s voice rang out from the other room as the old woman stood sauntered on in the room next to Hattori.

“This happen in _your_ universe?” She whispered to the man who was amazed that she even knew about that. “Your heart started pounding like a jackhammer the second Izumi brought it up.”

Hattori wanted to say that yes, his Izumi asked him the same thing and he messed up the best thing he had going for him by saying no…

… but now, he had something else to say. “Hey, Hattori…” He said, to which Hatori, who didn’t know what to say, looked up at him as he mouthed two words of encouragement.

Hatori knew exactly what he was saying, and judging by certain things he said earlier, she knew why her male counterpart was telling her that..

“ _It’s okay Hatori…_ “

Hearing those two other words in her mind caught the damaged eyed woman’s attention as she then saw something she didn’t expect to see in her mind, it was Jissika and Miki kneeling around Izumi, looking as they did on her last birthday before that night, both smiling up at her as a beautiful blue glow shining brightly around them.

“ _You’ve earned this… Let go of the pain, you suffered long enough…_ ” Jissika’s soft beautiful voice rang throughout Hatori’s mind.

“ _Be happy mommy, for the both of us… We love you..._ ” She then heard Miki’s innocent voice say before Hatori blinked back to reality, no longer seeing her first wife and stepdaughter around a awaiting Izumi before nodding as hard as she could, giving the largest smile she could make.

“Yes, YES, IZUMI! I WILL!”

With that, Hatori held Izumi by the back of her neck and kissed her deeply.

“HA! Called it!” Toph said, pointing up at the other Lin of this universe as she walked in. “Well, actually, we both called it.”

“Come on mother, you knew as well as I that she was going to say yes…” The Alternative Chief said, before putting on a small smile. “But good for them, Kya will be happy to hear this.”

“Can already tell you she will be.” Kya herself said, happy to feel the aura in the room rise up more than she expected as Hatori and Izumi got a surprise hug from Opal.

“So… think you can try convincing your Korra and the others to listen to what we gotta say?” Lin asked the happy couple, along with the other Lin and Toph.

“Long as we don’t go too long with the backstory and leave out certain details, shouldn’t be an issue.” Hatori, the now future Fire Lady, said giving a playful shrug.

As everyone was making plans to inform both other members of the crews, Hattori stood next to the doorway, a small smile forming on his face, just happy that Hatori, after all she went through and knowing what was ahead, finally got her happy ending with Izumi.

It made him finally decide to do what he should have done years ago.

“ _Thank you for being there for her._ ”

“Yeah, it's no big de-”

But then, Hattori froze in place and stopped talking as he realized he didn’t know that voice, _that voice of a woman behind him_ , quickly turning around to JUST see two glowing blue shapes vanish the second he saw them.

Even with being blind in one eye, he knew for certain what he had just briefly glimpsed, they looked like an woman Hatori’s age and a little girl. But there was no way Hattori saw what, or rather, who he thought he saw…

_... right?_

“Hey, One-Eye, what’s up with you?” Opal asked, deciding to playfully call him a combination of the nickname One-Arm Kya gave him, only to sense something was up as he wasn’t reacting to it. “Uncle Hattori, what is it?”

“... I’m… I’m not entirely sure kiddo.” was all the alternative version of her uncle said before choosing to focus on the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... no lie, that beginning of the chapter, up to end of the flashback, it was the hardest thing I had to write, more so than Sami's flashback to what happened with Guan and Dark Korra's reaction. And the kicker, the version here was the edited down version as what I original wrote, even I felt dirty for writing. So me and Coniine wisely went back and edited the scene to how it is now.
> 
> But good news, somewhat, is that with enough time, Hatori is able to move past the pain. Not completely as what she went through is something she will never forget, but enough to finally be happy with those she cared about... There's still a slight bit left for her to deal with next chapter, but nothing compared to this one.
> 
> NOW ONTO HAPPINESS, this universe's Izumi has been asked to be Fire Lord and Hatori agreed to be her Fire Lady... WOO!!! XD Look, after most of the chapter, me and Coniine had to include a happy ending for the chapter. So hey, looks like this universe's Toph and Zuko are in-law's for sure! XD Also, the ending of the chapter with Chief Hattori briefly interacting with the spirits of Jissika and Miki is actually a reference to the ending of "Blood in..." with Toph at the train station. Plus, as a fun note, the ballad (Of the title) Hatori sings to herself as she plays the guitar, she's actually singing "Cemetary Gates" by Pantera, with the lyrics altered slightly to fit her and the ATLA/LOK universe. It was either that or "Until It Sleeps" by Metallica, me and Coniine made the right call.
> 
> Thanks for the character based detour this chapter, the main story will resume next chapter as a big game changer will happen! See you next week, be sure to comment, give kudos and bookmark!


	18. Chapter Seventeen- The Line is Drawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to some graphic violence and some PTSD. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

The next day, the crew met up at school once more. It was strange how Dark Korra hadn't been able to find them yet, but perhaps she was finding it difficult to track the Avatar's energy just as Sami was finding it hard to track hers. Besides, they doubted that she would think to search in a high school anyway. 

Unlike the three Beifong's and Kya, the rest of them didn't know yet the origin of Hatori, and seeing a female version of Hattori was already a shock as it was. Though One Arm Kya herself got a chuckle seeing her partner interacting with his alternative self.

"Hey, excuse me, err... Hatori." Bolin said as they walked through the school gates. "Were you a shadowbender too?"

Dreading the same questioning again and knowing where it would lead, both Hattori and Hatori had the same answer. "Don't even fucking go there."

Bolin looked like he wanted to say something else, but he dropped it, hanging his head and carrying on walking.

Now that this universe's crew knew why they were here, they were more keen to stick together with the newcomers too, and following them around from class to class became easier. Hattori was back to assisting Izumi, Kya continued teaching agriculture, Hatori had a free period to herself before music class began and both Lin and One Arm Kya were back to gym class.

Principal Raiko walked into his office, sitting down at his desk and putting his glasses on to begin the morning paperwork. A student's parents had apparently left a complaint about their child being threatened with injury by a teacher, something involving metalbending and a wall, but he hoped to deal with it later. Perhaps letting the undercover agents in was a mistake, even after Chief Beifong seemed to clear up the confusion he brought up days before to her.

He booted up his computer, and notes from the week's meetings had already started pouring in. He sighed. He hadn't even had time to drink his coffee before somebody was asking to be emailed something again. After looking closer, they were asking for the same powerpoint he'd already sent out twice this week.

“Spirits…” He muttered to himself. “Sometimes I wish they would just kill me instead.” 

As he started typing a reply, he heard footsteps outside his door. They seemed to pause outside for a moment, and he looked up, expecting a knock and someone wanting to come in with yet another problem. Instead, there was nothing, and before long he heard the footsteps walk away. 

That was strange.

He wondered if it was a lost freshman too nervous to ask for his help. He was looking for any reason to leave his office work behind anyway, so he stood up and walked to the door, opening it and looking down the hallway.

"Hello?" he called out. Stopping dead in her tracks further down was a student in dark watertribe looking clothing. She turned around, and Raiko looked to recognize her. "Oh! Korra. Shouldn't you be in class?" The Avatar was mischievous, but it wasn't like her to be so obvious in skipping class. He frowned, seeing her outfit was strange, but he supposed it did fit the dress code. 

The Avatar smiled. It was a strange, lopsided smile, like she was hiding something. "I'm on my way. Had a biking accident on the way, so I'm a little late."

Raiko nodded. "Alright, hurry up."

She turned back round and carried on down the hall. 

The principal was about to head back into his office when something occurred to him. Avatar Korra lived across the city. She didn't bike here, she took the bus every time. 

"Hey!" He called after her, walking hurriedly after the student. "Korra?" He rounded the corner and looked both ways down both corridors, but she was gone. There was nowhere she could have gone. Had he been so slow?

He shrugged it off. Maybe the Avatar had stayed over at a friend's. It wasn't his business after all and he headed back to his office. 

He sat down at his desk once more, sighing as he saw five more notifications pop up on his screen. He didn't feel like dealing with any of them, but he thought he should let those strange undercover cops know about Korra's strange whereabouts. They were after all keeping an eye on her anyway. 

He pulled up his emails and was about to send a message to them, when he heard something move behind him. 

"You're not trying to give me away, are you?" 

He spun round at the sound of the familiar voice, seeing Korra from before standing behind him. His hand ghosted over the keyboard blindly behind him.

"How did you-?" he paused, seeing the strange dark shadows drip down from her body. 

"You were never a good president anyway." The girl Raiko was his student said, confusing him further.

His blood froze as he saw her eyes turn glowing red, but before he could scream for help a shadow hand wrapped itself around his mouth, muffling his attempts. 

He struggled against it, but more hands rose from the shadow of his chair and pinned him down against it. His eyes widened as he saw the shadows this Korra wielded, shaping them into a blade in her hand. He watched as the sharp edge came closer to his neck. 

Just when Raiko realized the truth of who this shadowbender was, Dark Korra moved to the side, and with one swift movement sliced the principal's throat open. The blood spurting from his windpipe narrowly missed her, and instead painted the wall a light crimson. 

The shadowbender chuckled to herself. "Don’t worry, no one will mourn you."

Raiko's eyes rolled back as he felt the blood rush out of his head and consciousness left him. Dark Korra let go of his limp body, letting it crash down, half on the chair and half on the floor, with trickles of blood still draining from his throat. 

She then wondered whether she really had to do this, sure, the guy was a witness and Raiko, regardless of universes, was always an ass, but did she really have to kill him? 

" _He's collateral damage. You need to find the Avatar before anyone raises suspicion..._ "

The shadow spirit was right. But then Dark Korra looked at his screen and frowned. A small window popped up in the bottom right. It said "Message sent successfully"

“Too late.” 

* * *

Izumi was just about to start her biology lesson, with Hattori handing out the worksheets, having promised to behave himself, when a message popped up on her computer screen. It was an email from Raiko. She rolled her eyes, hoping it wasn't the same powerpoint he'd sent twice this week already, but she hit open anyway. 

Her brows furrowed at the message, it just said " _Just saw Korra in th_ ". 

That was weird. He never finished his message. Perhaps he accidentally hit send before he finished typing. 

Then her thoughts started racing before looking up. Both Korra’s were in her classroom right now. Something wasn't right. 

"Hey, ah, Daisuke?" she said, catching Hattori's attention. He came over and read the message, his mismatched eyes widening as he too looked at both Avatar’s. 

“Dammit, that has to be her," he whispered. 

Izumi nodded. "Everyone stay here and don't leave until we come back for you." She stood up, addressing the class, who now stared at her confused. "Someone lock up the door behind us and shut the blinds. Stay quiet until someone comes and gets you." Then she and Hattori rushed out. The email was addressed to all the teachers, so they hoped Hatori and the others would get the same message. 

The crew realized what was happening and they stood up, following them out much to the students' confusion. 

"She said to stay here-"

"Shut up, Tomo!" High school Korra retorted. 

"Okay, is everyone so mean in high school?" The regular Korra whispered to her fiancé, but it was a rhetorical question. They both had to admit teenagers were vicious in this universe.

The rest of the students did as they were told and they heard them lock the door behind them. 

They ran to Raiko's office, relieved to see Hatori, Lin and the Kya’s running in from the opposite direction too as with the rest of the crew.

"She's here somewhere," Sami said. Though she hadn't been able to pinpoint her before, she could definitely feel some shadow energy nearby. They must be getting really close. 

Izumi didn't hesitate. She barged into Raiko's office, slamming the door open. "Raiko?!" She called out, but immediately noticed the red splatters on the opposite wall. 

"LOOK OUT!" Hatori yelled, pulling her wife back. In an instant, the outer wall of the office was smashed, and pieces of debris went flying, smashing through the glass in the door. The crew jumped out of the way, shielding themselves from the shrapnel before daring to look back at the destruction. 

“Found her!” this universe’s Mako yelled out as he held Wu in his arms, similar to the Mako not from this universe holding Thuy, slowly peeking around the doorway.

Past the unhinged door and shattered wall, they saw the storm of shadows out in the school courtyard, with Dark Korra at their center. 

"I finally found you," she said, grinning from ear to ear as she saw this universe's Avatar among them. "And what do you know? You're only a high school student." She chuckled. "Should have figured."

"You monster!" Lin yelled. "You'd kill a high schooler with no remorse like this?!"

The shadowbender couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh Linny, you have _no idea_ what I've done."

With another swing of the giant shadow hands, she tore away more of the wall, sending more bricks and cement flying. 

Both Bolin's, Thuy and Wu pushed themselves to the front and earthbended them away from the crew, launching them back towards Dark Korra. The shadowbender ducked out of the way before conjuring up a whirlpool of shadows under her, rising up above the ground. 

The crew rushed through the broken wall after her into the courtyard. 

"I'm only after the Avatar," Dark Korra said, still smirking. "It'd be a lot easier if you let her go for once."

"Never!" Korra yelled out, pushing herself between the high schoolers and the shadowbender, hurling a couple of fire punches towards her. Being so high up, she dodged them easily, and everything else the crew had to throw at her was just too easy for her to evade. 

Sami rose up her own shadows and threw two tentacles towards her, trying to grab her and hold her still to be hit, but the Dark Avatar was still more powerful and experienced.

With a swipe of her hand, she broke the engineer's shadows apart, shattering them into bits of dark shrapnel that rained back down on the crew. Both sets of the Opal and Korra's quickly airbended them away, letting them fall against the side of the building, their sharp edges cutting deep into the walls. 

Out of everyone out in the courtyard, Kya noticed someone had stayed behind. She turned back towards the hole in the wall and noticed Hatori still standing against the broken doorway of the office, staring at the shadows outside. 

The healer could tell something was up. The music teacher was frozen, and her eyes were unblinking, more than usual considering the damaged one. She rushed over to her at once.

"Hatori?" she said, trying to see if she could break her out of it, but the woman didn't seem to hear her, seeming to take deep breaths. The healer reached out and touched her shoulder, but the teacher immediately flinched, backing further into the corner away from her, even though her eyes never left the shadows. 

"We can get you out of here," Kya said, as softly as she could. "You'll be alright." She held her hand out, seeing if she wanted to take it, but in her shock, Hatori didn't even see it. 

From the higher ground, Dark Korra had the upper hand. She had a full range of motion, and sight of everything going on below her. She raised up shadows left and right, overwhelming the crew and chuckling as they scrambled against them. She waved her arms around her, gathering up a storm of fire, and unleashed it down towards them. 

Lin planted her feet firmly into the ground, and used her whole strength to lift up a wall from the ground, just about large enough to stop the flames from scorching them. 

Hattori snarled. "Okay, enough of this shit!" He readied up his metal hook before launching it up at the Dark Avatar. She tried to dodge too late, and the hook just about caught onto the side of her pants. "GET DOWN HERE!" He yelled, yanking the metal chain down and ripping the Dark Avatar out of the sky. 

She fought against it, and the hook didn't seem like it would hold, until a metal wire wrapped itself around her other leg. Thuy pulled her down too with her wire, and before long, Lin joined in with her own metal cord. 

With no choice in the matter, Dark Korra came crashing down to the ground, letting forth a shockwave of shadows as she did so. The crew stumbled backwards. The dark projectiles stung against their skin as they threw them back. 

As the fallen Avatar stood up, in a fit of rage, she metal bended Hattori’s hook away from her, hurling it back towards him. He had no time to react, and the metal slashed against his face.

Hattori howled in pain. “Aahh! That’s another one for the collection!” he grunted, stumbling onto the ground. Without a doubt, the deep gash would leave a scar even if either Kya healed it.

But his train of thought was interrupted as he felt the sharp tip of the hook slam right through his vest and shirt, piercing into his shoulder blade. “DAAAHH! _MOTHERFUCKER!_ ” He screamed, pulling it out, causing blood to shoot out of the wound as One-Arm Kya rushed to his aid.

Izumi didn't let up and now that the Dark Avatar was brought down, she jumped at the opportunity and showed why she was in the Fire Nation army, kicking a flurry of fire towards her. 

Dark Korra's eyes widened and she slashed away at the flames with her own fire bending, leering at the teacher. It was almost insulting that some biology teacher thought she stood a chance against her, even if she looked familiar.

Without hesitation, she coiled a shadow tentacle around her waist and pulled her down to the ground. Izumi fell on the concrete on her hands and knees, before a shadow hand rose and grabbed her by the throat. She let out a yell as she struggled against it. 

Kya held her hand out closer to Hatori, trying to make her come back to reality. "Come on, we can get you out of here, and you'll be safe."

The Beifong woman continued to ignore her, until Hatori heard her wife scream. At that moment, her attention was immediately drawn to Izumi and the shadows curled around her body.

For a second, Hatori’s mind flashed back to that night, what happened to Jissika and Miki, to her…

But then, it was overwritten by anger as Hatori’s skin burned with fury. She gave out a snarling roar, rushing out into the courtyard in an instant, and to everyone's surprise, let forth a flurry of fire punches of her own. 

What surprised them even more was that these flames bended by the woman were not the regular looking flames or even blue like Dark Korra or Azula’s, but those that _burned the color green._

The flames went flying towards the Dark Avatar, who turned her head too late, not even realizing the music teacher had been there all along. The flames hit her across her chest and she braced herself, but Hatori's attacks were unrelenting as she yelled out of wrath. 

Even for someone who had to be new at firebending, Hatori did not let up her attacks, the bright green flames trailing behind every punch and kick before launching herself off the ground with a backwards flip, letting out a spinning ring of fire towards her enemy before landing on her feet with ease.

The Dark Avatar fell backwards, slamming her fist down on the ground to raise a wall of concrete in front of her to protect her from any further projectiles. She breathed heavily, chest burning from her new assailant, and she fought against the pain to stand up. 

As the wall dropped in front of her, she faced Hatori, looking straight into her rage filled eyes as she ripped off her eyepatch, showing her wounded eye.

“Don’t you dare hurt my wife, _YOU LITTLE BITCH!_ ”

Before Dark Korra could do anything about it or even respond, she felt Sha-Garou come forth. 

" _Ah, yet another pitiful Hattori being angry at me. What's the matter? Afraid to see what the shadows hold again?_ " The spirit laughed. 

Hatori ignored him, instead rushing to Izumi, checking if she was alright. The shadows had retreated off her when the shadowbender was distracted, and she had managed to stand up. 

Sha-Garou took control of Korra's body, and he wasn't pleased with the interruption the teacher had caused. 

" _Guess I'll have to show you what you should REALLY be afraid of._ " The shadow spirit hissed out, contorting Dark Korra's arms as the shadows around him rippled, but before anything else could happen, he seemed to struggle against his own movements. He grunted, his guttural voices seeming to ring out from all the shadows around them as he was fighting something. 

Sami recognized what was happening. Dark Korra was fighting back for control, even if it was hindering the spirit's progress. She wanted her body back more than she wanted to win.

The engineer gulped, but she pushed all hopes to the back of her mind. She could tell the Avatar wasn't strong enough to gain back control, no matter how much she tried, but at least Sha-Garou was distracted. 

"NOW!" She yelled, and the crew jumped at her call. 

They threw everything they had at the spirit, fire, water, earth and air connecting with their target and Dark Korra's body was thrown backwards, crashing against the wire fence around the school, ripping through it and landing onto the road. There was a trail of broken tarmac as she slid, her clothes torn and blood dripping down onto them as Dark Korra felt control of her body again. 

"Oh, now that I'm injured, you give it back to me?! AND WHAT DID I FUCKING TELL YOU?!" She yelled, but there was no time to argue any more. The crew were on their way towards her, and she had to get away. She struggled against her injured body, but out of the corner of her eye she spotted the faint shadows along the fence in the morning sun.

But before the fallen Avatar could slink into the shadows, a shadow hand grasped at her waist and pulled her away, right below a red eyed Sami who formed her own shadow claw over her metal glove, intentions clear to the restrained shadowbender, whose hands and feet were too kept in place by shadows that she herself couldn't control.

“Oh, NOW you want to do it?! After I murdered our friends and family, took the energies of other Avatar's, NOW you hate me enough to kill me…” Dark Korra chuckled, spitting a small bit of blood to the side in the process, thinking she knew her wife well. “Well then, come on, do it, COME ON! KILL ME! UNLESS YOU-”

To her surprise however, Sami drove down her shadow claw right down towards her head, only for Dark Korra to just manage to move her head out of the way at the last second, watching the sharp claws dig into the ground right where the back of her head was.

Her eyes, turning back to cyan, widened at this turn of events.

“You-you… you were…” Dark Korra muttered, realizing how close to death she was, turning her face up towards Sami who ripped the shadow claw out, raising it up again, now aiming towards her heaving chest so she wouldn’t miss the next time. This was something she hadn’t expected.

“You were actually going to kill me.” Dark Korra choked out, realizing that Sami isn’t playing around anymore.

“I’m not trying to kill you because I hate you...” Her wife said in a low hushed tone, closing her eyes, feeling herself get misty eyed at the choice she had to make as the others watched.

That confused the evil Avatar who looked as best as she could at the others before back at Sami. “Then what _other_ reason do you have?!” She demanded as she saw Sami turn back at her, the tears falling out of her beautiful green eyes

“Because…”

“Because WHAT?!”

“ _BECAUSE I STILL LOVE YOU_ , THAT’S WHY!!” Sami bellowed out.

Silence filled the air, except for the small echo of what was just proclaimed in the air.

Never mind almost being murdered by someone she didn’t think had the guts, THAT got to Dark Korra, her voice cracking.

“W-Wh.. What did… What did you say?”

Sami looked down at the disbelieving face of her wife, still having her shadow claw to the dark Avatar’s chest, lowering down to glide her free hand across her face.

“I said that I still love you Korra. I’m not trying to kill you because I want to see you suffer for what Sha-Garou made you do…” The engineer's soft voice rang in Dark Korra’s ears, raising her free hand and biting down on the fabric of the glove to let it slip off of her hand as she threw it on the ground, allowing her wife to see the wedding band she still wore from the day they were married.

“But because it’s the only way to free you from his influence.”

That only raised more questions for the restrained woman. “But the only way to get him out of me is energybending, then killing his physical form.”

“ _DON’T LISTEN TO THEM!_ ” Sha-Garou hissed out in Dark Korra’s mind.

“He’ll just be reborn in a different form!” Korra yelled out as she slowly began making her way over, knowing the Shadow Spirit was listening, knowing the truth. “The only true way to kill a shadow spirit is by two ways, either by a Bright Spirit when he’s out of your body…”

“ _Which he and the others made sure would never be a problem again…_ ” Khu-Shui’s voice rang forth out of Sami’s mouth, showing to Dark Korra that she was in control.

“Khu-Shui?” She asked with wide eyes before the evil spirit in her screamed in her head.

“ _SHE’S LYING! THAT FILTHY WHORE IS LYING!!_ ”

“ _Silence, Sha-Garou! You’ve known this entire time!_ ” The other shadow spirit shot back, able to hear her other counterpart’s lies with ease. “ _We’re the last two of our kind left and you’ve been lying to Korra the second you offered her your deal, just to extend your existence!_ ”

“WHAT?!” The fallen Avatar yelled out.

“Did you honest really think he had your best interests in mind, becoming the ultimate Avatar!?” Asami asked, approaching the group, looking down at Dark Korra. “He used the death of your unborn child, what Guan did to you and Sami, just to have you finally give in! And now that he’s become too powerful from all the Avatar’s energies you’ve drained to energybend him out, there’s only one other choice we have left to save you.”

“We HAVE to kill you, it’s the only way…” Sami said, wiping the tears away with her ungloved hand as she had back control, her eyes turning back to the glowing red, her shadow claw still primed to kill the woman she loved. “I’m so sorry Korra.”

Now it all made sense to Dark Korra, everything she had done under Sha-Garou's influence since she killed Guan, his “guidance”…

... It was all lies, she truly was no longer the Avatar of her universe. That old lady Azula was right.

_She was nothing but Sha-Garou’s plaything all along._

“Please forgive me for what I've done.” Dark Korra teared out, turning away so as not to see her wife do the deed onto her, her eyes crying at all she’s done, all of whom she’s murdered, just able to remember one notable memory from the past.

She and a pregnant Sami were in Zaofu sitting with Kuvira and Suyin. Even after what happened between her wife and the former leader of the Earth Empire in the past, the engineer decided that the wounds were healed enough and had asked Kuvira to be Yasuko’s godmother, to which she accepted the honor.

That was the last happy memory Dark Korra had before what happened the next day due to Guan.

The former Avatar gave a small smile remembering that moment, ready for death. “Please, kill me, please Asami… I love-”

“ _NNNNNNOOO!!!!!!!_ ”

That damned voice screamed out as loud as he could from all the shadows in the area, no, the entire city as Dark Korra felt herself beginning to lose control once more, her body thrashing against the ground and shadows as she tried looking into her wife’s eyes.

“ASAMI! DO IT NOW!” She cried out, seeing the other shadowbender realize she had to do it now, only to see her own arm form up her own shadow blade in the process and slash it in front of her, connecting with her wife’s arm. “ _NOO!_ ”

Luckily, the cut wasn’t as bad for Sami, but it caused her to lose control of the shadows holding Dark Korra down and vanish before she felt her body rise up like a ghoul’s, fear stuck on her face as she realized what was going to happen, struggling with what control she had left to raise up her hand towards her bleeding lover, seeing the others hold onto her as she felt herself lose more and more control.

With that, Dark Korra gave an _unearthly scream of pain_ as she felt the shadows engulf her entire body, wrapping and sticking onto her like black steaming oil, with the last part of her body to be covered being her cyan eyes as she shed one last tear for the lives she took, for the woman she loved until she was completely overtaken.

“ _I… have…_ ” Sha-Garou’s voice growled out from the form covered in shadows in between deep breaths before slamming her fists onto the ground, causing the shadows all over the school and street to shake and vibrate, causing parts of the foundation to crack and break apart.

“ _... HAD IT WITH YOU DAMN HUMANS!_ ”

Sha-Garou finally arose onto the feet he controlled, two evil glowing red eyes forming where the now former Dark Korra’s were, staring pure hate towards the crew.

“ _It… ends… EVERYTHING WILL END!_ ” The shadow spirit yelled at the top of its lungs as thanks to the shadows in the area flowing towards him, giving him more power as he rose up into the air, pointing a sharp finger at Korra. “ _Ever since you ripped me out of my previous host's body in our universe, you have been NOTHING BUT A DISEASE!_ ”

If the shadow-spirit could grin in its current form, it’d give maybe the biggest one it could, teeth bared and all. “ _And I intend to cure this universe, ALL THE UNIVERSES, of the disease known as AVATAR PRIME!_ ”

He then looked at everyone else watching the sight. “ _As with anyone else who dares challenge me…_ ” Looking around the area as he spun in place, he gave that damn chuckle.

“ _And because I’m in such a giving mood, I’ll give you all, ALL OF THE UNIVERSES, a week's time to get things in order, because after the seventh day, in the universe where it all began… EVERYTHING ENDS!!_ ”

With that, the shadow spirit laughed out the loudest it ever could, it’s deep gruesome laugh echoing all over the universes at what fun it had in store.

“NO IT WON’T!”

That stopped the evil spirits' laughter as he stopped spinning to look down at Korra, who had slowly approached the corrupted form of her other self, eyes more focused than ever before, giving a quick look at all her allies in this universe before turning back to look up at the mad spirit.

“No more universes will fall to you! Throughout our travels, we’ve been forming an army to fight you! And even if you make up more of your shadow soldiers, many others from the universes we’ve been to, the ones YOU’VE ruined with your evil, they will all fight by our side, MY SIDE, against you.”

The Avatar gave one last glance towards her friends, allies, Sami… and her own fiancé who nodded in approval before turning back to the shadow spirit. “You want a war?!” she yelled.

Korra then began waving her arms around before thrusting her hands down, airbending herself up into the air to look Sha-Garou right into his red glowing eyes as her own eyes glowed white, showing she meant what she was about to say.

“ _YOU GOT YOUR FUCKING WAR!!_ ” Her voice echoed out in it's powerful tone.

In a rare moment, Sha-Garou felt like he had nothing to say, just staring back at the Avatar’s eyes, he knew she was being serious… And he had to admit, things just got more interesting as he had to give a small, if effective chuckle.

“ _Seven days, Avatar Prime, back where it all began…_ ” Sha-Garou said before raising his hand up, showing the Uchū crystal still in his hand before looking at the witnesses. “ _Before I forget, between now and next week, feel free to heal up, patch up some issues with those close to you, go crazy, start up your own flying lemur circus or maybe even pray to some spirits. But if you’re going to do that last one, just know this…_ ”

Then the shadow spirit clenched the hand with the crystal in it, that purple energy glow forming around him as his eyes narrowed down at the crew.

“ _I WON’T BE LISTENING._ ”

With that, Sha-Garou vanished into the light, leaving Korra up in the air alone before she lowered herself down as Asami, Sami and the others approached her, still taking in what they had witnessed.

“Korra, I’ve grown to respect your judgment and actually consider you a friend…” Lin began saying to the Avatar after giving a tired Hattori over to both Kya and One-Arm Kya to try healing his wounds. “But if you don’t mind me asking two questions, first:…” She calmly asked before her eyes went wide.

“WHAT?! Second: _THE FUCK?!?_ WHAT DID YOU JUST DRAG ALL OF US, SHIT, ALL OF THE UNIVERSES, INTO!?!” 

The Avatar was taken aback from the outburst, looking around and seeing those close to her, those she had met on this journey, everyone from this universe, all looking at her for some form of answer.

“... I don’t know….”

She knew what she just said, but even then, she couldn’t believe what she responded to against Sha-Garou, the feeling just now sinking in, like she may have made a big mistake…

“We can’t just sit by and let Sha-Garou mess up all the universes as part of some sick game, too many of them have been hurt because of him.” She said before realizing something. “Actually, no, you know what, it’s not entirely his fault…”

The young woman had to finally admit it as she just held her hands up. “If anything, I’M to blame, _I’M THE REASON FOR ALL OF THIS HAPPENING!_ ” She yelled into Lin’s face, seeing the older woman back up slightly at her voice getting louder. “Me getting him out of your brother, that caused a brand new universe to be made for him to escape to. And because of that, I help put many others in danger!”

Korra wanted to cry and hit herself for being so stupid, not knowing that she once again endangered the universe, let alone all the universes since she didn’t know how to properly get rid of the shadow spirit, but at this point, she knew what had to be done.

“So if you wanna know WHY I threw all of us into the lion vulture’s den, saying 'Hey, let’s go to war!', IT’S SO I CAN FIX THE MISTAKE _THAT I MADE!_... and I can’t do it alone.” She finished with a small voice. “... I’m not powerful enough alone.”

The older Beifong woman looked down at her ally who kneeled down on the ground, seeing the weight of everything now fully getting to her as she began to cry with Asami holding her as she did. “I’m supposed to be the Avatar, and I keep finding brand new ways of screwing things up.”

“ _Korra…_ ”

Said girl heard her name said by Khu-Shui who held her head lowered. “ _It’s not your fault, this was always meant to happen…_ ”

“What do you mean this was meant to happen?” Izumi asked to which the Shadow Spirit made a deep breath.

“ _I said that my other self had set this whole thing up to find the one possible way to end Sha-Garou for good…_ ” Khu-Shui answered, looking down at Korra as she kneeled Sami’s body right in front of her, looking into those cyan eyes. “ _I thought, with the lack of options we had, that Sami killing her Korra here would be the end… but now, I see it all clearly. As the Prime, you were always meant to balance out the universes. And to do so, you need to unite all the universes, all the different versions of you and your allies against Sha-Garou, this is how things are supposed to go, how it’s supposed to end._ ”

With another breath as she closed her eyes, Sami was back in control, knowing very well where Khu-Shui was getting at, looking back at Korra.

“You, as the Prime, were meant to lead all of us into battle against Sha-Garou and his shadow soldiers. To finally put an end to the wickedness of the shadow spirit, aside from Khu-Shui, and in order to do so…”

The shadowbender then took her metal glove where the Uchū crystal laid and took the rock out of it, handing it to a confused Korra.

“You will need to rally up as much support as we need to end him and free my wife.”

“He said “Back where it all began”, what did he mean by that?” The Korra of this universe, thankfully having survived, asked to which her other self let those words go through her mind before realizing where Sha-Garou seeked to end it all

“The universe that split into two because of me, my universe.”

The Avatar Prime then felt a soft hand on her lap, turning to see Asami’s emerald eyes look into her Cyan ones, a small playful smile on her face. “I must admit, this is not how I expected my bachelorette party to go, but…" She continued, her face showing how ready she was. "If you’re going to fight, I will stay by your side Korra, I love you.”

That, naturally, got that lopsided smile the water tribe girl was so known for. “Thank you, I love you too Asami.” She said before the couple kissed each other before seeing Mako step up.

“We’re with you until the end.” He said with a stoic nod as Thuy held onto his hands, too nodding as she gave a cocky smile.

“Fight on until we’re dead, hun.”

“And you’ll have the mighty Nuktuk and his lovely airbender fiancé at your side!” Bolin offered, giving a pose as Opal tried to stifle a giggle, but looked at her friend.

“Not the choice of words I’d use, but yes, we’ll be there for you.”

Kya gave a kind smile. “You always know you’d have my support.” She then felt Lin’s hand take hers up.

“Sorry for my little outburst, but… I will always be glad to fight alongside you.” Lin admitted, giving a small smile at the girl as she felt Kya hug her, silently thanking her.

Korra then looked at the two other honorary members of the crew as One-Arm Kya was just finishing healing up a now awake Hattori, having to give a knowing smile at them. “How about you two? It’s a little out of your jurisdiction.”

“Korra, I already agreed to fight alongside you the second that shadow spirit killed my daughter. I think you already know my answer right now.” One-Arm Kya winked at her as Hattori stirred.

“And that fucker took my sister away from me and my family.” The man with the mismatched eyes grunted with a groan, still feeling where he was stabbed with a cleaned up, if still healing slash down from his upper left right eyebrow to his cheek. Yet he still smirked, shaking his head. “Ain’t no way I’m letting him go without a proper beating.”

That raised the spirits of the Avatar, hearing those close to her ready to fight by her side, turning to herself from this universe and the others.

“I assume we already know what your answer is?”

“Course, we’ll all fight by your side, everyone of us.” This universe’s Korra answered, holding her fiancé’s hand who nodded and agreed as did the others belonging here.

“Oh, my first actual battle, I must admit this is quite unexpected, how will I fit in training in such a short time frame?” Wu noted, having never been the fighting type, even as an earthbender in this universe, only for the other Mako to hold his hands.

“Trust me, you’ll get used to it.” The firebender said before kissing the member of royalty’s forehead.

“Oh come of it Mako. I don’t think anyone cares at this point.” Wu mockingly scoffed before grabbing his boyfriend by the waist and dipping him down before laying a large kiss on Mako’s lips, which he returned back.

An action which still caught the regular Mako by surprise as Thuy had to help keep him on his feet.

“Make such a lovely couple, I wonder if…” She said playfully to which Mako stopped her by pressing his finger on her lips.

“No… just, _please no_ , don’t see our Wu like that.” He noted, not wanting for things to go further than that as Korra, Asami and Sami saw Izumi and Hatori approach them, the shadowbender curious.

“Think we can get some possible outside help ladies?”

“I can see what I can do, can more than likely explain what’s going on to my father, having him and his entire army on our side could help. Well, it'd be _my army_ soon.” Izumi pointed out as Asami snickered.

“We already have a lot of Fire Nation soldiers from other universes helping out, but more wouldn’t hurt.”

“Pretty sure lover boy there can possibly call in some favors and get some Earth Kingdom forces to help out…” Hatori brought up, pointing at Wu who began talking to Thuy as Mako tried to talk with the other version of him before looking at Lin and Hattori. “Get Lin to get some help from the metalbending cops too, maybe convince Suyin to get her metal clan soldiers too while we’re at it. Suggest you have your Lin do the same.”

“Sounds perfect.” Korra smiled before something came to mind, her attention brought over to the crystal. “Hey Sami, you said I had to rally those who’d fight, how am I supposed to do that?"

“ _Actually, this seems more like something I can answer._ ” Khu-Shui answered instead, having Sami hold her hands together to demonstrate. “ _What you need to do is go into your Avatar State and hold the crystal in your hands like so, close your eyes and just think of every possible different universe you can think of, minor changes, large ones, no big deal, and the rest should come to you without any issue._ ”

“That’s it?” The Avatar had to ask, a little skeptical, only to get a snort and laugh from the shadow spirit.

“ _Trust me, you got this child._ ”

Seeming to get it, Korra smiled, about to go into the Avatar State and grasp the Uchū crystal with both her hands when she felt Sami’s hands stop her.

“ _Shit, I forgot to mention, you maybe wanna go somewhere with wide open space before you do that._ ”

“What? Why?”

“ _Again, just trust me._ ”

Not really arguing against a shadow spirit who seemed to know her way around weird space crystals, Korra looked around and saw where Dark Korra had previously attempted to fight there, the school courtyard, rushing over there.

Thankfully it was nice and big, while no one seemed to wanna enter it, still thinking the battle was going on. Looking at everyone, Korra gave a loud sigh. “Okay, Avatar State, then grasp the crystal with two hands, close eyes, think of different dimensions…”

And so she did so, closing her eyes before entering the Avatar State as her eyes glowed that shining white color, raising up in the air thanks to a mini air-tornado before grasping the Uchū crystal with both hands, starting to feel its power course through her body, tingling all over her form as it’s purple energy shined through her fingers.

Closing her eyes tightly, Korra then tried to think of all the universes she’d been to, those in the visions she swore were nightmares, even those she tried to visualize in her head.

As she did, the crew and those of this universe noticed the air-tornado holding Korra up began to shine purple, glowing the same shade of the crystal as the energy became wider in range, taller in height.

“Hey, is it supposed to be doing that?” One-Arm Kya yelled out at the sight as Khu-Shui watched, a small smile forming on Sami’s lips.

“ _Who knows, I honestly didn’t think it’d work._ ” She said, finding humor in seeing the bloodbender react in surprise at what she said. “ _I’m messing with you, I’m making a funny!_ ”

The purple glowing energy grew larger around Korra, soon beginning to rise above the school, and soon, the highest building in all of this universe’s Republic City before it’s form began to reshape into something familiar.

Standing in the middle of Republic City, taller than Kuvira’s colossus ever stood or even the spirit portal, was a large purple glowing Korra, standing there as many of the civilians of the town looked up in awe and curiosity. It reminded some of the events of when she fought Vaatu.

And then, the giant glowing Korra opened her eyes, seeing not just the Republic City she was in, or even the one she knew. Or even those she had seen before, but thousands, if not millions of them, seeing how each was so different in their own little or large ways.

Seeing so many of them from so many different universes would seem overwhelming, yet it wasn’t for Korra, she felt like she was in each of them all at the same time.

And in all the different universes, all over the world, everyone bared witness to the giant purple glowing figure looking down at them, yet weren’t scared of it.

It was at this moment Korra knew what to say…

“ _Hello… I assume this is kind of a surprise for all of you to see, perhaps even worrying, but I assure you, I only come to you all in peace… I am Avatar Korra._ ”

In the Prime universe, over at the city state of Zaofu, Suyin Beifong, her family and all those who served the metal clan stood outside, watching this… miracle happen.

“ _I may be the one you’re familiar with, or perhaps I’m different than the one you know…_ ”

Toph Beifong held her hand on one of the many large vines in the Foggy Swamp, listening to what was being said.

“ _... as you see, it turns out the universe I am a part of, what you are part of, is just one of many, possibly infinitive as the change could be minor, or large._ ”

“Better be a universe where I can see what she’s yammering about…” The master earthbender muttered as she listened.

“ _If this surprises you, or even confuses you, I get it, I wouldn’t believe it myself, but I’ve seen them…_ ”

From Air Temple Island, Tenzin, the airbender Asami, Hiroshi Sato, Mako and Bolin watched along with the airbenders, seeing the large glowing Korra talk.

“ _... I’ve seen so many different universes, walked around them, interacted with those in them, it’s amazing._ ”

Husky Korra and Panther Asami stood on the deck of their mansion as a female wild dark haired human with a seemingly permanent deadpan looking face in a black/brown tanktop and shorts walked up to them, Asami holding her.

“It’s okay Fumi, Naga…” Panther Asami assured the human companion who looked at her and Husky Korra curiously along with a large strong looking human woman with short white hair in a blue t-shirt and pants.

“ _But, with the good comes the bad, and something bad, no, SOMETHING HORRIBLE is out there…_ ”

In the Prime Universe, Sha-Garou had finally landed from the purple energy, noticing the large glowing Korra talk, hate in his eyes at it.

“ _I assume those listening know of shadow spirits. There’s one out there referred to as Sha-Garou, a deathly powerful one who has done the impossible…_ ”

“ _And made possible…_ ” The spirit snarked, seeing he was in the middle of the South Pole near a large capsized wooden ship, smirking to himself as it’d be the perfect locale for the final battle, raising up his hands as he began amassing his shadow soldier army among the snowy tundra.

“ _He has taken possession of the body of a me from another universe, tricked her into giving into his will through the power of loss..._ ”

From the site where their most trusted allies were buried and laid to rest, Zaheer and P’Li stood watching the sight in awe as they listened to her words in interest.

“ _... And with that, he has used her to gain the ability to hop into other universes to find and steal the energy from their Avatars, taking away someone’s friend, daughter, granddaughter, lover_.”

Back in Republic’s Gate, Korra of The Southern Water Clan and her fellow quest takers watched the sight unfold.

“ _Now, some universes have not been affected by him, some have, some haven’t even been visited by him…_ ”

In another universe, a young water tribe man stood on Air Bender Island as a handsome black haired man in a jacket stood next to him, holding each other in their arms as they listened while an older female airbender walked by them to see the giant glowing Korra better.

“ _But that will not stop Sha-Garou from coming to your universe to kill your Avatar and take their energy._ ”

“Korin?” The black haired man whispered to his soon to be husband, looking at him as Avatar Korin kept his eyes on what was ahead of him.

“It’s okay Asamu… ”

“ _If someone doesn’t stop him, who knows how many universes will lose their Avatar, all just to fuel his sick pleasures…_ ”

An Asami, who looked to have been fitted with odd mechanical parts on the side of her head, kneeled over the body of her own Korra, tubes of Co2 on her neck, looking up at the different version of her cyborg lover.

“ _In all the universes I’ve been to, some of me have been saved…_ ”

Back in the universe full of cobblestone and horse drawn carriages, Korra and Asami watched out of the window of their mansion at what was going on, with the Avatar holding an amazed Yasuko in her arms.

“ _Others, I was forced to watch their lives taken away…_ ”

“It’s a big you, mama.” The child pointed out to her mother.

“ _But now, I can’t stand it anymore, I can’t stand to let anymore universes suffer, so please, hear me out…_ ”

At the feet of the glowing Korra, a portal began to form up, as Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Princess Izumi looked on at it as both wondered what lay on the other side.

“ _In a week's time, Sha-Garou has vowed to end not just me, but all the Avatars in the universes, leaving them all defenseless to his whims._ ”

A Korra in neon blue exercise spandex watched the portal open as her lover and friends, all clad in bright, loud clothes were outside on the park as the Bolin of this far out universe looked up from on top the hood of his DeLorean, turning off his radio.

“Radical…” He let out.

“ _But, I won’t let that happen, I will, alongside those close to me and those who I’ve encountered on my journey, fight against Sha-Garou’s evil…_ ”

The large purple glowing Korra looked all over the many universes as it stood over the Republic City High School.

“ _... but we are not enough to stop him, to which I ask, anyone from all over the universes, those who know what I’m talking about, those who are now just finding out about this…”_

Another Korra listened to the words being spoken of while on horseback in a desert, wearing an odd vest with tassels as her Asami rode on the back, a bandana around her neck as she held her arms around her, seeing the portal open up.

“ _... please, we need your help to fight Sha-Garou, to end him once and for all!_ ”

In another universe, a leather jacket Korra sat in her fancy old school Satomobile as her Asami sat at her side, her hair in a bun while in a poodle dress, them and everyone ignoring the old monster movie projected on the large wooden screen.

“ _Now, if any of you listening are afraid of fighting, don't believe in taking another life or have someone whose side you don’t want to leave, believe me, I GET IT. And truth be told… I’m scared too, I’m scared to go into battle…_ ”

The face on the large glowing Korra showed self-doubt on her face.

“ _You’d more or less be going into war with a powerful opponent you may or may not have encountered and could fall._ ”

Then the self-doubt on her face vanished, replaced by a look of assurance.

“ _But… we need the help, we need all the help we can get to stop Sha-Garou once and for all as together, we all have the power to stop him. So please, you have one week to make your mind up if you want to fight alongside me and the others to save our universes. If you do, just venture forth through the portal you see and it’ll bring you to where I’ll be, which will be where the battle is held. If you choose not to join, again, I completely understand, but if you do choose to fight… It’d be very much welcome…_ ”

Giving a smile, the large glowing Korra gave a small bow to those who listened all over the universes.

“ _I am Avatar Korra Prime… and I thank you for listening…_ ”

With that, the purple energy began to unform and shrank down from it’s height all over the universes as the crew and the others ran close to the school courtyard where Korra used the energy of the Uchū crystal, seeing she was back to normal as she dropped down to her knees, her back to the purple glowing portal that now stood there.

“That… that was… WOW…” The Opal of this universe said in awe.

“Nice work Avatar Korra…” Sami, having gotten back control, a smile on her face…

… only for it to drop as she realized something as Korra unclenched her hands. “No, nonono! _NO!_ ” She cried out, grabbing the crystal.

“What’s wrong?!” Kya asked to which the shadowbender rose up the crystal in hand, it wasn’t purple anymore, just clear.

“This is bad, this is _so freakin' bad!_ ” Sami said as Hattori shuffled over, wondering what was up.

“Well, come on, tell us! Why in the name of Raava are you freaking out?”

“The Uchū crystal…” Sami began saying, rushing to where she threw her metal glove, inserted the crystal on it, put on the glove and tried clenching her hand, only for nothing to happen, getting the same result when she tried again before turning to a confused Korra with a look of petrified realization on her face.

“It’s _out of power._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT, after the rather... dire last chapter with Hatori's backstory, it was time to get back to the main plot. AND OH BOY, did this shake things up. Another Avatar saved, but another has fallen as Dark Korra, having finally realized the truth, has been completely taken over by Sha-Garou, who now plans to end everything in the universe. But what's this, our lead Korra will take charge and lead her friends and allies into battle? Yep, and trust me, it's gonna be a big one. But how will they solve the issue with the crystal? Find out next chapter!
> 
> Now, other fun side bits to talk about. This is the last full chapter set in the modern verse, sorry about that. XD Got to show this universe's Wu isn't useless, which sadly is exclusive to this one. Sorry Prime Universe Wu. XP And now Hattori has gotten his face slashed, which if you paid attention, is where Prime Hattori lost his eye and ear, almost like there's a theme along with Lin. And speaking of Hattori, it turns out Hatori Beifong did NOT become a metalbender after her Korra used energybending on her in the past, but a firebender whose flames are green! How?! X3 Oh, just read next chapter.
> 
> The big speech of Korra's was also a fun thing to write, especially with all the different versions of characters from other universe's watching, including a genderbent version of Korra (Korin), Asami (Asamu) and Tenzin! (... she'd still be Tenzin, Tenzing? Eh, the name is unisex anyway) Small reference to an originally planned universe the crew would have visited, but we already had a bunch of them and too much time was wasted on the recent two. But hey, if you want fancasting's for Korin and Asamu, these choices may be a bit left field, but I could totally see Scott Frerichs (Or KaiserNeko of Team Four Star/Dragon Ball Z Abridged as Trunks) as Korin and Neil Patrick Harris as Asamu. Little obvious since both are voice actors who are homosexual and voicing bisexual characters? A small bit, yeah, but I think both also suit the roles as well as Janet Varney and Seychelle Gabriel, both the serious and funny moments. Plus, Kaiser voicing the genderbent Korra already works since there is two references to DBZA in the chapter and he's already voiced another Korin in it. XD
> 
> Okay, enough rambling, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and await the next one! Till next week!


	19. Chapter Eighteen- Repairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references/descriptions of some graphic violence and a minor reference to sexual assault. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

The three Asamis gathered round, talking about the powerless Uchū crystal and drawing up a plan to possibly fix their problem back in Izumi's classroom. The rest of the crew hung around awkwardly as police officers filtered through the halls, taking a witness account from Izumi. The story she was telling would have never flown with the authorities if it wasn't for Korra's message earlier, along with this universe's Lin being there for her sister-in-law.

All the students and teachers had been evacuated out and the school grounds were mostly deserted. 

"I think there's something we can use back at my company." Highschool Asami said. 

The others were a little shocked that an 18 year old came to be the CEO of one of the largest companies, but she assured them she wasn't managing it on her own. Not until she finished school anyway.

"Alright, us three will head over there..." Sami said, before tearing off a piece of paper and handing it to the rest of the crew. "You guys try and find these few things around the school labs and classrooms. They shouldn't be too hard to find."

Korra took the paper and frowned as she read. "Few things?" she said, realizing there was a whole list. 

The engineers didn't waste any time as they got going, and the Avatar was left to split people up into groups. 

"Alright, err..." she took another look at the list. "High Schoolers, go find wires and a battery pack in physics, Lin and the Kya's can go see if the geography rooms have any quartz. Bolin, Opal and the Hattori’s go find an oscillator in music, the heck is an oscillator?” She muttered the last part to herself before taking a moment to catch her breath. "And me, Mako and Thuy will go find acid in chemistry." 

Everyone stared at her for a few moments. 

"Well, what are we waiting for?" 

With that they got into their groups and set off down the halls. 

As Bolin, Opal and Hattori followed the music teacher through the school, they were all dying to ask the same thing. Judging by the way the woman had reacted in the fight before doing what she did, they were somewhat afraid to bring it up out of sensitivity, until Bolin worked up the courage.

"So, um, Hatori." he said, getting her attention. "How come you're a firebender and not an earthbender?"

She smiled. "Always asking alot of questions." After seeing Hattori himself metalbend, she had been certain this question was coming. "When Korra freed me from Sha-Garou a year ago, it seemed like my father's lineage came forth, instead of my mom's. My father Yakumo, as you know, was a firebender, and in that moment as she used energybending, I suppose my spirit got jumpstarted and received firebending as opposed to earthbending."

Hattori tilted his head. "Well, maybe that was exclusive to you as Mother told me my father was a non-bender." He noted, pointing at their other universe niece. "Even then, Opal's Hattori, along with every other one I've heard about all became some form of earthbender. Heck, my Lin became a freakin' lavabender.”

Hatori stopped a bit, smiling at this reveal as she gave an amused chuckle. "Our sister, Lin Beifong as a _lavabender?_ Oh MAN, now that is something I'd love to see, you got to introduce me to-" But she stopped as soon as she saw Hattori look away a bit, the hurt in his eyes briefly there, but she knew. "Oh... right, sorry about that." 

“So, what, is it all down to chance?" Bolin choose to brings things back to topic, sensing the moment was getting awkward.

The music teacher took notice and considered the question for a moment. "No, I don’t think so," she said, opening the door to the rehearsal room and letting everyone in. "I think there was something else that meant I got firebending instead."

The three of them listened intently as she explained her theory. 

"Personally speaking, it's not a matter of chance. I believe the type of bending you get is like looking into a mirror.” Hatori pointed at Hattori. “Earth suited you, and the Hattori's like you. You were strong and steadfast, and clung tightly to your roots." She smiled. "Perhaps fire suited me better for the intensity of all the emotions I went through. The fire in my heart, especially considering the way I killed those bastards... is way worse than you three can imagine.” A slight grimace formed on the woman’s face. “Not that they didn't have it coming."

Bolin had to stop in place as the others kept walking. “Seriously, _what happened_ to her?”

Opal noticed and pulled her fiancé along, leaning in to whisper, Bolin noticing how grim she sounded as she spoke. “I’ll explain when we’re alone, it’s better that way.”

“Worse than we can imagine, huh?” Hattori asked before, moving in front of his other self to look at Hatori’s eyes. “Alright lady me, try me.” He then asked, only getting a shrug from the music teacher as she kept looking.

“Alright. My second target, Chodak, the one who tried to assault my future wife with chi-blocking. I sliced his groin open with my katana, watched him grasp at what was used to be his Equalist balls and dick, squirming like the sack of shit he was.”

With then, Hatori couldn’t help but give a grim grin, as if what she had done disturbed yet amused her. “Then after throwing him against the wall, I stomped down onto the back of his head, kept going until Izumi practically had to drag me away, his head turned to mush.” She said in a matter of fact tone, causing Bolin’s jaw to drop as Opal grimaced at the thought, all as Hattori nodded in return, something coming to mind.

“Interesting, my sister did something similar, only the target was a woman named Hae-Won. Lin entered her apartment through the shadows before slicing into the tendons of her feet to prevent her from escaping and then…”

The Chief snapped his fingers, trying to remember before the crime scene he, Kya and Detective Bolin saw came back to mind.

“Right, Lin took her by the back of the head and smashed her face first into any hard surface around. The walls, various picture frames, the mantle above her stove, the edge of a hard oak table and a rotary phone on the wall.”

Noting all of that gave the man with the mismatched eyes a slight shiver, remembering the sight of the bloodied corpse like it was yesterday. “Hae-Won’s head looked like a bloody rotten pumpkin by the time authorities and Nishi arrived on the scene.”

Hatori looked up at Hattori silently for what felt like a few seconds seemingly disturbed, but then gave an unnaturally amused version of the famous Beifong snort at what Lin Hanzo had done to his bemusement as she went back to rummaging through some drawers, looking for what they were here for. “Creative type, I’ll give her that.”

Finally, she pulled out a large plastic box, blowing across it and letting forth a storm of dust. 

"There we are, should be in here," she said. "This is our old concert equipment." She looked through the old components, before pulling out a metal box with round dials. "I know it looks old fashioned, but it should do the trick."

The three of them looked at the component. Old fashioned? It looked state of the art to them. 

* * *

They met up with the rest of the crew back in Izumi’s classroom. By this point, the biology teacher was also done giving her statements to the officers and her Lin, so she could sit in and watch as the three Asami's got to work with the gathered components.

They seemed to have brought back a soldering iron and what seemed to be a better looking, more sophisticated version of the electrical glove that each of the Sato women used, but it was missing a central component.

Sami gathered everything around her on the table as the other versions of herself helped her. They were going to put together an electrical circuit to charge up the Uchū crystal, but it wasn't so simple. 

"The current needs to hit the right frequency on the first try," Sami explained. "Anything other than that would ruin the internal structure of the crystal lattice and we won't be able to use it anymore."

"And we’ll be stuck here," Asami filled in. 

"Exactly." Sami connected the quartz to the oscillator using the wires. "We're gonna use this to find the right frequency, and apply it to the current from the battery pack." She looked up at her high school self. "Watch closely younger me."

The student leaned in. She had never thought she would be learning all this from an older version of herself. 

Sami brought the Uchū crystal up to the quartz. 

"See, the ultrasound from the crystal will cause tiny stresses in the quartz structure, and these will produce an electrical current and..." the oscillator lit up with the given frequency at once. "The frequency of the current is the one of the crystal."

The student had a wide smile on her face, while the rest of the crew watched bewildered. Neither of the Korra's had any idea what was going on but they cheered nonetheless.

“Our girls are so cute when they're acting all brainy.” The younger Avatar said to her other self, a gleam in her eye at her girlfriend.

That got Korra to chuckle, looking at her fiancé. “One of the many perks about them we love.”

Sami stored the frequency in memory, before unhooking the quartz and wiring the battery pack and oscillator together. With her last crocodile clips she attached the crystal to the circuit and with a deep breath turned the power on, hoping for the best. 

"How would we know if it doesn't work?" Opal asked. 

"The crystal's structure won't take any other frequency so... it would just shatter."

They watched cautiously, holding their breath. Each passing minute seemed like an eternity as they watched the crystal for the tiniest cracks. Sami counted 7 minutes, before finally turning the power off. 

"Is that it? Is that all it needs?" Asami asked. 

The shadowbender nodded. 

"That's not much for interdimensional travel," The student Asami added. 

"The Uchū crystal draws power from something I haven't been able to fully understand in order to function," Sami explained, getting ready to solder it into the new glove. "Somewhat like a spirit portal, possibly. But more transdimensional."

She poured a few drops of acid onto the underside of the crystal first. "This would cause a thin porous layer to form on the side of the crystal so it can join to the glove through the solder and we can control it." Then she waited for the soldering iron to heat before she began attaching it to the compartment in the palm of the glove. 

"So, this like a upgrade, a update." The student Bolin said, noticing the new glove. 

"Correct, this one should be better because the electrical impulses are smaller and more localized," Student Asami explained. 

"It would let us better control what universe we're going to," Sami finished, before putting the solder away and picking the glove up, admiring their work. "Seems done."

The crew got closer, looking at the finished work. The crystal gleamed in the light as the engineer slid the glove on. 

"Should we try it?" Korra asked. 

"That's what I was about to do," Sami said. 

"Can it... can it liquify you?" Bolin asked. 

Lin rolled her eyes. "Not this again."

“I’m sorry, I’m cautious!”

"Well... maybe it can." Sami chuckled. "Hopefully not."

"Oh for- I volunteer to try it first..." Hattori stepped forward, earning the surprised looks of everyone. "What? If I do get liquified, at least we don't lose our only hope out of here and you girls can tinker on it more."

The crew couldn't argue with that. 

"Are you sure?" Sami asked. 

He nodded, and with that she passed him the glove. He slid it on, furrowing his brows as he looked at it.

"Just think of the universe you want to go to and where, then use it to take you there," Sami told him as Hattori moved his metal fingers and thumb around, unknowingly clenching it as he tried thinking of the first universe to come to mind. 

"Okay, so how in the spirit realm do I turn it on-"

In an instant, a bright purple light enveloped the male Chief, and he was gone.

"Well, I guess it worked," Mako said. 

* * *

The bright purple light formed in a room not of the universe that Hattori was just in, leaving him breathing hard as he stood in this new environment.

Quickly feeling his body, he gave a small breath of relief as he smiled to himself.

“Oh THANK YOU whatever spirit for not liquifying me…” Hattori said softly to himself before looking around where he was.

To his confusion, he was in what had to be a fancy looking bedroom, noticing with what he learned as the Chief of police in Republic City all the intricate details that gave it away.

The large expensive bed with the fancy silk sheets, the just as huge red blanket, the fluffy pillows, the large portrait on the wall of some woman he didn’t know, how huge the room was, what looked like a platypus bear skin rug he was standing on, some priceless looking pottery and the large chandelier hanging up above him.

Okay, so Hattori knew that much, wondering where perhaps the purple crystal must have sent him, though the sound of running water was bothering his thought process.

“Alright, what was I thinking before I teleported, think Hattori, think…” He muttered to himself.

The Chief tried thinking to himself before quickly realizing he had the glove on and took it off as fast as he could, placing it on the bedside table, didn’t want accidently screw up by thinking of a universe where, say there was no breathable air and he’d choke to death like the Earth Queen.

“Okay, now you can think properly…” He said to himself before noticing the large red curtains in front of an just as large door, walking up to it and seeing it lead out to a balcony.

Outside of it, Hattori’s two different looking eyes looked out in surprise, seeing all the various fire nation soldiers and guards surrounding the area around where he was, slipping back in without being noticed.

“Okay, certainly Fire Nation, that’s for sure.” Hattori noted to himself before peaking outside and spotting how things looked, it actually all looked very familiar, he even saw the purple energy portal that Korra helped form. “And hopefully there’s more of THAT around this universe…”

Then at the corner of his good eye, he spotted a picture frame on a mantle, an old photo in it, to which he went up and grabbed it, seeing the image, realizing he had seen the picture before.

There was a teenage Izumi posing with a just as young Bumi, Tenzin, Kya, Su… and himself!

“Wait a- that’s me...” Taking a closer look at the picture, Hattori saw that the Kya in the picture had only one arm.

It all clicked in Hattori’s head as he put the picture back where it was, the first universe he happened to think of was his and Kya’s home universe, which means from how things looked outside, he was in the Fire Nation…

“Still, where the fuck am-” Hattori muttered to himself only to be interrupted by that damn running water, looking around for it’s source until something about the room got his memory jogging, remembering when he was nine years old, he was running around the room, chasing after someone, it was a girl his age…

Then he saw her face and the glasses she wore.

“Izumi…” He said, just now realizing he and her would run and play tag in the room before Fire Lord Zuko would appear to them, telling them that fun time was over and to leave his bedroom.

Hattori had to slap himself upside the head for taking that long to realize where he was. “Of course, I’m in the Fire Lord’s bedroom!” 

Then it immediately sank onto him as he felt like glass shattered inside his head.

“ _Oh shit,_ I’m in the Fire Lord’s bedroom.”

That was the moment he realized where the running water was from as he heard it turn off and a door open behind him.

“Oh, did I need that…”

The inadvertent intruder was too scared to turn around as he knew exactly whose voice said those words.

The woman his age, clad in only a towel wrapped around her body, dried her hair with another, her golden eyes closed until she opened them, catching sight of the seemingly unfamiliar figure in her room as she stopped in place.

“... you’re staring right at me, aren’t you?” Hattori’s voice cracked out, turning around and confirming that indeed, he was in the bedroom of Fire Lord Izumi, standing right across from his ex whose otherwise wise eyes were widened in surprise at seeing him there. “... um… so, funny story-”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!” Izumi yelled out, clinging onto her towel as she rushed back into her bathroom to cover up modesty as Hattori jumped, covering his ears at how loud she screamed.

“AH! AHH! Sorry, it was-”

“GET OUT OF HERE, HATTORI!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to-” Hattori began until he noticed the bedroom doors open and there stood Iroh II in his United Forces uniform, rushing to his mother’s aid.

“Mother, what’s wrong?!” He asked before taking notice of Hattori who simply waved nervously at him.

“Hey Iroh, it's been awhile awhile. Ah, how’s things with you and Haku, he pop the question yet?”

“Hattori Beifong, why are you in my mother’s bedroom as she’s taking a shower?! And what’s up with your attire?” The general demanded be answered, approaching the Chief who held his hands up, giving a quick glance at the clothes from the modern universe he wore.

“Ah, okay, first, the clothes is a long story, and second, I’ve been trying to answer, but-”

“Wait, is _that_ an electric Equalist’s glove?” Iroh II took notice of the glove on the bedside table, seeing the purple crystal on it, turning with a look of anger towards Hattori who realized he left it out in the open. “What were you planning to do to my mother?!”

“Nothing, I swear, I was testing it out to-” Hattori tried explaining, only for the prince to immediately raise up a hand of fire.

“Use on my mother? _”_ The golden eyed man said in a low voice, one full of rising anger. “I know you had a relationship with her in the past, but this is low, even for you.”

Just as the last syllable left Iroh's mouth, Hattori felt himself staring daggers at the general. “What the _fuck_ did you just say to me, you little punk?” His voice lower than normal as his own anger began slowly heating up inside him.

Iroh II, being the unmoving and brave man he was, stood his ground. “You broke my mother’s heart and now you think you can just take her back in your own sick twisted way?”

“I-I’m sorry, I’m getting on in years, my hearing ain’t what it used to be…” The Chief said in a mocking manner, before getting close to the General’s unflinching face as he held up his open hand, metalbending some of his chain around his fist before raising it up in a similar manner to the fire in Iroh II’s hand.

“Do please speak a little louder and tell me WHAT YOU'RE ACCUSING ME OF, _NOW_.”

“Of trying to sexually assault my mother, the Fire Lord-”

“If you weren’t Izumi’s son, I’d be FUCKING THROTLLING YOU RIGHT NOW!” Hattori interrupted with a furious yell at an now just as furious Iroh II.

“GO AHEAD OLD MAN, I DARE YOU!”

“OLD MAN?! I’M LITERALLY TWENTY ONE YEARS OLDER THAN-”

“WILL YOU TWO STOP IT!” Izumi’s voice yelled out, causing both men to stop as they turned to see Izumi step out of the bathroom, clad in only a red and black silky robe, her glasses back on.

“Iroh, while I appreciate you coming to my aid, I assure you Mr. Beifong has never had, nor will have any ill intentions towards me, even with our history.” The Fire Lord explained, to which Hattori had to laugh in the prince’s face.

“Told you!”

Izumi sighed. “That said Hattori, why are you here inside my bedroom while I took a shower WITH that glove in your possession? Because the last time I checked, you made sure that we’d never be in the same room alone ever again.” She finished, hurt and her own form of restrained anger at her old lover in her voice.

Something which Hattori had taken notice of, rolling his eyes as he walked over to the ledge, pointing outside. “I assume you all saw the giant glowing purple Korra and that portal in front of the palace awhile ago?”

“How could you not?!” A black haired woman’s head popped out from behind the curtains, making Hattori jump in fright, holding his hand against his chest as he felt it pounding.

“OH, SWEET AANG!” He yelled out as the three saw the short woman they knew stroll out from behind the curtains in dark clothing, yet also that curious smile.

But what always got Hattori’s attention the most was her face, Hattori swore she looked just like a younger Azula, even with those looped pigtails of hers.

“Mihoshi, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping document any big developments on what we saw and the portal?” Iroh II asked his younger sister who giggled and sat on her mother’s bed, legs crossed.

“Oh, I was, until I took notice of the light of the same color coming from this room and, well, curiosity got the better of me and I began climbing.”

“Up the palace again?” Izumi asked, already knowing the answer due to having been told by her guards over the years of her daughter’s… _peculiar_ ways of getting around the palace, even as a child.

“Of course mother, by the time I got up here, I heard ‘Roh-Roh’ arguing with Chief Beifong.” The Fire Princess said with a smile, which again, really reminded Hattori of Azula. From what brief experience he had with that older version of her from that medieval universe, he was just happy all Mihoshi got was resemblance to her great aunt and not her voice

At this point Hattori was really hoping to Raava and even Vaatu that she wasn’t alive in his universe as Mihoshi looked at both men. “By the way, you two were SO LOUD!”

“Crown Princess Mihoshi, it’s always nice to see you, but do you mind if I…?” Hattori asked, pointing outside as she gave a nodding smile. “Thank you, anyway, like what I was saying, the giant glowing Korra, I’ve… been kind of part of it.”

“Part of it? What do you mean?” Iroh II asked as Hattori tried to put all Korra announced into his own words.

“All the different universes, this whole Avatar Prime, Sha-Garou business, what she said, everything that came out of that large mouth of hers, it’s all true.” Hattori explained, already sensing there was some disbelief coming from two out of the three people in the room. “Look… I don’t know if you all know this yet, I have no fucking idea how long time has passed since or if it’s gone public yet, but…”

The Chief was unsure if he would even share this unsettling news, but he shook his head. “Avatar Korra, the one that we know, _is dead_.”

He saw the looks on the faces of each member of Fire Nation royalty, each in shock and surprise in their own way at the news, which he had to turn away from seeing. “That evil Korra that was brought up, she did it, took away our Avatar’s energy, BUT not of her own free will!” He said, turning back around to the three who were still processing this. “The shadow spirit in her, Sha-Garou, he took advantage of her at the _worst possible time_ in her universe and pretty much turned the Avatar into an monster who didn’t realize she was being played with until it was too late!”

The Chief knew he had to bring up some past painful memories to support his story. “You remember what happened with the Equalist Ripper over in Republic City”

“OH YEAH, I helped write down some articles in the local newspaper about her! That Lin Hanzo lady sure was a sad case!” Mihoshi brought up as Hattori looked at her, the woman noticing the sad look on her face. “... Hattori?”

“Lin Hanzo was my sister, well, half-sister, born before me or Su.” He admitted to more looks of shock from the three. “My mother gave her up to another family because she wasn’t ready at the time to raise a child. I didn’t believe it either until my mother outright confirmed it to me, Korra, Asami and Kya.”

He then looked at them with a more serious look, tears falling from his eyelids, which stung the still healing wound on his face as it made contact. “She gave her life to save mine from the shadow spirit who was in her before he was vanquished. But that same spirit was Sha-Garou, who turns out to be some kind of hive-mind whateverthefuck as his mind escaped in another universe and entered the one where he’d corrupted it’s Korra.”

The Chief raised his hands up, pacing all over the room as he was watched.

“Look, I saw what happened to our Korra, I saw her body. I saw Kya crying her eyes out holding her corpse, and found out some more details about her I didn’t expect. But me and her decided to join Korra Prime and her allies to go through all the different universes, trying to stop this Dark Korra and Sha-Garou.”

“You do realize you sound like a rambling mad man when you explain all of that, right?” Iroh II pointed out to which Hattori was about to respond in his typical explicit way, but could only shake his head.

“You’re… right, I do sound crazy.” He said before looking at Izumi. “But you all saw and heard what that big giant glowing Korra was saying outside your palace, all over the universes! I’ve seen so many I didn’t expect to be real! There was this one where Republic City looked older and had horse drawn carriages, lots of chimneys and smoke, one where your dad was still Fire Lord, Korra was Fire Nation and Asami Sato was from the Water Tribe, don’t know which one, ah…”

He tried to snap his fingers, remembering. “There was another universe which had a very medieval feel to it, full of monsters, barbarians, knights, priestess’, Avatars being called “Avatar Knights”. There’s also the fire sanctuary temple, who are pretty much our Fire Blossoms Society, where it turns out the Fire Nuns get new sisters from getting the seed of male travelers, including meee…”

Hattori had to stop there, realizing he was kind of digging himself deeper judging by the rather disturbed looks from the family, aside from Mihoshi who curiously tilted her head. “I can explain that last part later, but the last universe I was in, it was like this futuristic looking one where the Avatar and her friends were still in school and you actually taught biology there!” He said, pointing at a rather unamused Izumi

“I did?” She asked in her serious tone.

“Well, after serving in your father’s army as a medic who knew firebending.” The Chief brought up to the Fire Lord’s surprise as she wasn’t a firebender. “BUT, that’s not the _biggest_ change there, at least to me…” Hattori said, knowing the subject he was going to approach was going to be tricky.

“You… remarried after Kyo’s death.”

He saw for a brief instant Izumi’s eyes dilating, remembering her late husband as her children looked in surprise at hearing about this, Iroh looking like he had been shot with an arrow while Mihoshi curled up her chest against her knees, both remember vividly going to his funeral. 

“I… I remarried, with whom?” The Fire Lord asked, now curious.

The Chief had to turn away, not wanting to see her reaction. “... Me, you married me in that universe, which by the way, I found out like most of the other universes, that I’M the Equalist Ripper…” He still felt unnerved to find that out before remembering a certain detail. “OH, and you actually married a _female_ version of me, whose backstory I don't wanna get into…”

He was awaiting the fireworks, waiting for his ex to ask how she could marry someone like him, considering what he had done to her, let alone a female him and/or being the Equalist Ripper. But it didn’t come after many seconds, Hattori turning back to see Izumi, looking down at the ground in cold silence.

“Ye-yeah, I was surprised too. And the kicker that got to me the most, Lady me actually said yes.”

“To marry the other me?” Izumi asked, not knowing where Hattori was going with this until she saw him shake his head, his voice low in regret as he sighed.

He thought he was ready for this, he had just gone through _three different universes in a row_ , each reminding him of Izumi in their own way and what he should do and say when he finally talked to her…

… but now he felt nervous, scared and ashamed of himself.

“No, that already happened… Hatori said yes to being her Izumi’s Fire Lady.”

Silence between the former lovers once more filled the room as both siblings watched the two.

“Wait, what does he mean by that? Mother?” Mihoshi asked her mother, moving towards the front of the bed to get closer to Izumi, who felt shaken hearing this, the calm reserved Fire Lord now feeling like she did all those years ago just before they broke up, turning away from everyone.

“I… I had… originally asked Hattori if he’d be my Fire Gentleman.”

“What?! But you told us that your relationship with him was just some teenage romance that didn’t last long!” Iroh II said, shocked to hear this, looking at a still silent Hattori who held his head down as he turned away too, then back to his mother. “You said you had been with our father years before Grandfather’s abdication of the throne!”

“That’s not true kiddo…” Hattori spoke up, his voice not reaching his regular volume as Iroh II and Mihoshi turned to him as he continued. “Me and your mom, we’ve known each other since we were little. When we got into our teens, I finally asked her out, she said yes and... we were a couple for so many years…”

“The perfect couple…” Izumi said, closing her eyes as she shed a tear, her own voice softer than normal. “We loved each other so much.”

Hattori sniffled, trying not to break into any more tears. “Until forty one years ago when your grandfather gave up the throne and offered the title of Fire Lord to your mother.” He then shook his head. “And… I screwed up and said no to becoming her Fire Gentleman.”

Hearing Hattori, a member of _THE BEIFONG FAMILY_ , whose stubbornest is infamous among the five nations, just admit he was wrong, made Izumi turn around, seeing along with her children, the Chief of Police of Republic City get on his hands and knees as he shook, beginning to pound on the floor with his fist as he breathing increased.

“I went and made the biggest, dumbest, stupidest, mistake I EVER MADE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I SAID NO TO THE WOMAN I LOVED! I! SAID! _NO!_ ” Hattori screamed out, pounding the floor with each word he let out.

Just then, some guards rushed into the room, but Izumi silently ushered them to leave, telling them it was okay before she and her children heard Hattori cry out in agony at what he had done.

“I BROKE YOUR HEART! I BROKE MY HEART! Oh Raava, I'm sorry... _I’M SO FUCKING SORRY, IZUMI!_ ”

Hattori’s voice broke as he sobbed quietly, his hand in so much pain from the pounding, grabbing the back of his head. “... i’m so sorry…”

He then felt soft hands touch his shoulders, looking up to see the woman he realized that he still had feelings for looking down at him.

“Hattori… don’t blame yourself.”

Hattori had to look around, arms out with his mouth out. “Who the fuck else am I supposed to blame?! Your kids? They weren’t even born at the time, no offense…” He brought up, quickly adding in that last part not to insult them, to which both Iroh II and Mihoshi nodded their heads silently.

“I was the one who thought I wasn’t good enough for you, not good enough to be Fire Gentleman, your husband…” Hattori sobbed, turning around to look at those golden eyes he remembered first seeing when both were children.

“Look, I’m not asking you to take me back, I know you had a happy life with Kyo, being the mother to two great kids, one of whom I was about to murder, but that was just miscommunications. Right?” He asked in a worried tone towards Iroh II who only nodded awkwardly.

“Right.”

“Right, see, we’re both getting along!” Hattori said back to a still listening Izumi. “The only thing I wanted to tell you after all these years was how wrong I was to ruin what he had, because of my own self-doubt, but I just couldn’t, even when I had the perfect chance. I always thought royalty wasn’t for me…” He then shook his head. “But I’ve been lying to myself all these years, the truth is that I was a fuckin' idiot who didn’t realize he had the perfect girl until it was too late.”

The Chief then looked up at Izumi’s unclear eyes, the pain from his tears hitting his wound stinging, but he didn’t care. “Of course it took the possible end of the world for me to say this, but again, I’m sorry for what pain I caused you, I know it won’t change things… I just wanted you to-”

But he was quieted when Izumi closed her eyes, leaned close and pressed her lips against Hattori’s, his eyes truly feeling like they were bursting out of his head at the action as she moved her arms around his shoulders as both Iroh and Mihoshi watched in amazement.

“Ah, old love…” The daughter smiled as Iroh II still was left speechless as he watched Hattori not waste the moment and put his own arms around Izumi’s back, kissing her back for what seemed like days, only for it to stop after thirty seconds as they finally moved their lips away.

“I-Ah…” Hattori tried saying, seeing the tearful, yet happy look on Izumi’s face, confusion kicking in as he turned to her children. “I’m sorry, did I have a stroke, what just happened?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Chief.” Iroh II finally answered as Mihoshi giggled, lightly punching the side of her brother's stomach.

Izumi gave a knowing look to him. “Ever since Kyo died, I felt like I lost a piece of my heart, which he had filled the void after what happened between us.” She said as Hattori looked at her, trying to get a feeling of what she met. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved Kyo, he was the perfect husband, the perfect father, the day he died, I cried so much for him, we all did.” She began explaining before looking down at Hattori’s older hands, feeling them in hers, thinking back to the day he held her hands at her mother’s funeral service.

“But, you never forget your first love, and hearing you pour your own heart out like that, not for a second chance, but just to make things right…” The Fire Lord said, smiling as she moved some hair off of his face. “It… just filled that void in my heart back up, Hattori… I… I….”

Hearing the Fire Lord, of all people, have trouble saying two words, made Hattori laugh unwillingly, like he had to let it out.

“I think you’re missing two words there, Fire Lord.”

“Look, you know this is all sudden at the moment, One-Eye.” Izumi snarked, using the nickname she remembered Kya giving him when they were young before noticing the still healing scar on Hattori’s face and the blood where his shoulder blade wound was. “Might I ask how recently you got these?”

“That last universe I was in, turns out that evil Avatar could also metalbend, go figure.” He said back with a smile. “This whole journey helped me realize that I do still love you, so… yeah, I love you 'Zumi.”

Izumi sniffled at that, kissing his forehead with her own smile following it, mostly at the use of an old nickname. “I haven't heard that nickname in years. And I love you too. Not just because you were my first-”

“ _Phrasing!_ ” Mihoshi said with a laugh to which even her older brother had to laugh at, if just cause it caught him offugard.

“BUT, because I know you’d make a just as perfect husband as Kyo, a perfect fire gentleman…” Izumi resumed, trying to ignore her daughter’s joke before looking down. “And a perfect father.”

Hattori’s gold and blind eye blinked twice awkwardly hearing that. “Ah-wha… Huh?” He then looked back up at Iroh II and Mihoshi who heard it too. “What did she say? Why did she say that?”

“Ah, you mean 'perfect _step_ father', yes?” Iroh II asked for him and his sister, both siblings figuring their mother slipped up.

“Remember when we had our fight that night?” Izumi asked as she looked back at Hattori who slowly nodded in his most ‘ _Of course…_ ’ way possible before she sighed and looked down at her stomach. “Remember the last thing I tried to tell you?”

Hattori gave it some thought “I recall you trying to tell me something, but I was too far away and it was pouring rain out-” Hattori began before he felt the realization drop onto his head like a sack of bricks, looking deep into Izumi’s eyes. “... _NO WAY_.”

The Fire Lord nodded, giving an embarrassed smile. “Six weeks.” She said, having Hattori’s hand feel where her womb was. “That’s how far I was when I found out I was carrying your child.”

“Ah, but… why did you tell me after… What happened to the baby? Please don’t tell me-” The Chief began asking, or at least tried, hoping not for the worst, yet Izumi shook her head to calm him down.

“Nononononono, don’t worry, our child is fine, in fact, _he’s standing right behind me_.”

“WHAT?!?” Both Hattori and Iroh yelled out at the same time, both men looking at each other, then back at Izumi, then back and forth. "What, but… No!" They both said at the same time, all while Mihoshi watched, enjoying this.

“OH, this is even better than the Ember Island Players and my romantic novels combined…” She said, that mischievous smile on her face as Iroh himself was floored at this, getting on his knees and moving near the two older adults.

“B-B-But…” Iroh II, known for staying stoic and calm in the face of danger, felt himself sweating like crazy hearing what her mother claimed. “My father, Kyo, he married you afterwards and-”

“Iroh, _he knew_ …” Izumi said with her own stoic tone back, looking at both men. “Remember, Kyo was quite the accomplished doctor, he knew a pregnant woman from a mile away.” The mother then turned to her son, holding him by the cheek. “But he knew as we fell in love not long after and when he became my Fire Gentleman that even if my child wasn’t his, he’d still love it as his own. You not being Kyo’s biological son didn’t change anything to him, he was proud to be your father Iroh, blood or not.”

Mihoshi then saw Izumi look at her, followed by the others. “What?” She asked, confused.

“Mihoshi, Kyo was for certain your father…” The Fire Lord said with a smile before then looking at both her son and her past, yet newest love. “But Iroh, your real father is right here, Hattori Beifong.”

Both men, who had been ready to tear each other apart earlier, looked at each other in surprise, trying to process it all, Hattori being the first to speak willingly.

“Well… he’s certainly got his looks from _your side_ of the family, at least he’s not blind.” He tried saying, following with a light chuckle as he tried to make a joke, but felt it fall flat as he was still amazed that he was indeed a father already. "This is alot to take."

Iroh II gave a glup and a nod. “This… may take some getting used to.” He said to which Hattori returned the favor.

“Agreed.”

“There is something he has that’s not from my family.” Izumi said with a smile at her two men. “Look at each other’s eyes, well, look at Hattori’s good eye Iroh.”

Both father and son noticed it, they had the same exact shade of bright gold in their eyes compared to Izumi and Mihoshi's darker hued gold eyes.

“AH. So… um… What if I told you this is actually _the second time_ during this whole journey I found out I’m a father, or found out I’m going to be one?” Hattori asked with an awkward chuckle, instantly smacking himself mentally for even thinking of bringing it up, let alone actually saying it.

“Oh, right, that Fire Blossom Society you mentioned.” Mihoshi noted to which Hattori looked at her surprised as did the others. “What. It’s common knowledge those Fire Nuns like to take in male travelers and take in their seed to get new lady members. Especially love those who have Fire Nation blood in ‘em.”

“And you know that how?” Iroh asked, about as weirded out as Hattori.

“I did a piece on them one time, lived with them for a few months, didn’t get into any of their ‘ _side activities_ ’, but really nice girls. Their Fire Mother can be a bit of a bitch…” Mihoshi answered simply, not seeming to know who may or may not be the group's leader.

“Yeah…” The Chief said before quickly looking at Izumi, who had a rather curious look on her face at hearing all of this. “I swear to Raava, that was during my conflicted phase and before I found out the truth, though like Mihoshi said, the girl was very nice afterwards. And it was in a different universe.”

“Hey, you got their brooch!” Mihoshi pointed out the object on Hattori’s belt buckle, making him give an embarrassed smile as Izumi just simply laughed before the chief remembered something.

“Shit! I have to get back to the others, probably thinking I got lost in some random universe and broke the glove.” He said, getting up and grabbing the glove, but before he could put it on, Izumi approached him.

“Hattori… you said you were with that Avatar Prime and her group, does that mean...?”

The Chief could see the worried look on her face, he knew what she was asking. “Yeah, I will be fighting against Sha-Garou with them, I mean, Kya’s still with them and…” He gave sort of a shrug. “I’ve kind of grown to like this little crew of theirs, even their version of Lin is part of the group, she’s the Chief of Police of Republic City like me. I can’t let them go alone into battle, especially after what happened to the other Avatars, and my Lin.”

Knowing that this may possibly be the last time he sees the woman he loves, Hattori gave a more simple kiss to Izumi, holding her as she kissed back, him looking into her gold eyes.

“But now, I have another thing to fight for.”

“Good luck future stepdad.” Mihoshi said in the kindest voice she could put, giving Hattori a hug from behind, the Chief giving the younger woman a pat on the shoulder before he noticed Iroh II still kneeling there on the rugged ground, the news still affecting him.

“Hey, Iroh…” Hattori said, going over next to him, knowing how hard this must be for him to learn. “So, ah, even if we… had some differences, some words said which may be funny in hindsight and would make for great stories at parties… If we do survive this whole universe war thing… um…”

The Chief saw that this was gonna be harder for the both of them than he thought, sighing before looking into the younger man’s eyes. “Look, I never knew my father, he died before I was even born, so I never got to know what it’s like to have a dad. Though Uncle Sokka was kinda like a dad, never could read his relationship with your grandmother, I mean Toph...” Hattori stopped as realized he was getting off track, getting back into focus.

“Back to the point, I may have not known you were my kid up until now, even as we worked together in the past, but Kyo, I met him once or twice, ignoring how awkward things were with your mom at the time.”

Iroh II then looked up at Hattori as the metalbender smiled. “Even if he wasn’t your real dad, I think Kyo helped raised a great kid who became a great man.”

“Even after you threatened to throttle me?” The general asked, putting on a small laugh and grin to which Hattori had to nod at, rolling his eyes.

“Even after. So… What I’m saying is, if we win this battle, which I will be damned if we lose, I _do_ want to try being your father.”

“Think you can handle it, old man?” Iroh II asked, the smile still on his face with the echo of their previous exchange in mind.

That got a snort from Hattori, the famous Beifong one. “I just found out I have a forty one year old son AND have another child coming in a universe I more than likely will never meet. I think that’s the spirit's way of telling me to relax and try it out.”

“Alright... Dad.” Iroh II said back with all earnestly as he and Hattori hugged each other, patting each other on the back before Hattori had to let go and put on the glove, looking at the three members of Fire Nation royalty, looking around the room.

“Be seeing you three around.” He said with a final wave and a bow of a kiss towards Izumi before thinking of the universe he was just at and clenching his gloved hand, vanishing in a purple energy light in front of them.

* * *

“So, who wants to bet he got lost in some evil dimension and broke the glove?” Thuy asked sitting on a stool as she, the rest of the crew and those of this universe all sat around the classroom bored, waiting for Hattori.

She then noticed the glares from the highschool Korra and Asami about how dark of a thing she said. “ _What?_ I was kidding, he’s not that dumb.”

Suddenly the familiar purple glow shined above the desk Izumi and Hatori sat near and out fell Hattori, who crashed onto the desk, rolling onto the ground in pain.

“FUCKING OWW!”

“Hey, you’re back!” Korra said, amazed it worked as the Chief groaned out in pain as Lin helped him up.

“ _Hey, glad to see you’re okay, Hattori! Why, thank you my close allies and friends!_ ” He said mockingly with a fake voice before switching to his natural, if angry, tone. “DAMMIT, what is that table made out of, solid wood?!”

“Well, nothing looks to be wrong with him nor the glove.” Lin smirked as Hattori mockingly shook his head like he was laughing before stopping, noticing his other female self with the teacher Izumi and gave a small smile at the two as he took off the metal glove and handed it to Sami.

“You know what, fuck it, we're good, it’s all good, I'm in a good mood, I’m going to head to the bathroom, I'd be back.”

“But what about the glove, how good did it work? Where did you go?” Sami asked, stopping the man with the mismatched eyes who turned to look at her with a smile.

“Works like a charm, just think of where you wanna go, grasp the gloved hand and ta-fucking-da, you’re there.” He said. “And I got to go back to mine and Kya’s universe, where I must say, things went wonderfully.”

With that, Hattori turned away as he left the classroom as the others began looking over the glove, realizing what they can do now, walking down the empty hallway.

“Hey, One-Eye…” One-Arm Kya’s voice rang, making the Chief turn back to see her having followed him, a look of wonder on her face.

“Care to follow me into the bathroom, One-Arm? It’s right here.” He asked, pointing at the male bathroom he was about to open the door to.

“Funny, but no…” The bloodbender said in her sarcastic tone, before putting her hand onto Hattori’s forehead, noticing something. “Maybe it’s because of recent events, but I’ve been sensing aura better, and yours has most certainly changed.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, it’s actually good, very good, the best I’ve felt from you in years, what happened in our universe, why were you there for so long?”

“Ahh, just had some unfinished business to deal with.” Hattori said, preparing to open the door.

“ _Hattori._ ” He stopped, hearing his best friend refer to him by his first name in the most honest way she could, turning back to see her smiling. “I saw how you looked at Hatori and Izumi. Anything to do with the Fire Lord of our universe?”

That got Hattori to smile before hugging his long time friend and partner.

“Yes, very much so. In fact…” He said, looking into One-Arm Kya’s confused eyes. “Not only did Izumi forgive me AND loves me now.” He shook his head, almost feeling happy with what he found out, like he was a changed man… almost. “I found out I've been a father this entire time.”

That put a look of surprise on the bloodbender’s face as she held her hand to her mouth, wanting to make a joke about what she overheard in the previous universe with that Shali Fire Nun girl, but she couldn’t ruin the moment. “No way, let me guess…”

“Three guesses, the first two don’t count.”

“Ha!” One-Arm Kya let out a laugh, finding this both funny and sweet. “I’m not going to lie, I had a feeling, just always thought Iroh II looked like you.” That got a knowing smirk from the Chief who shook his head. “Not his face, dumbass, I meant his eyes.”

“There we go.” Hattori said back with a laugh and a point at his friend before entering the bathroom, leaving One-Arm Kya to go back to the others, thinking of ways to embarrass Hattori in front of the others when he got back.

* * *

With the help of the newly restored crystal, the crew was able to get back to their universe, along with Hattori and One-Arm Kya, before deiciding to gather their allies from all the alternate universes. It was a slow process, but eventually Air Temple Island filled with their alter selves, all ready to fight. 

"Finally!" Bolin said, dropping down and sitting on the grass as they brought the last people in on the island. Opal sat down next to him, her hand on his. 

"That should be everyone," Sami said, before turning to their animal selves. "Tenzin will show you round." She looked out at the groups gathering around the air master's house, realizing he would be difficult to find in the crowds. "Err... wherever he is..."

"It's fine," Panther Asami said. "We should know our way round."

Sami nodded, secretly feeling relieved. After gathering so many people, she was as exhausted as everyone else. She looked out at the introductions taking place. As soon as the animal versions made their way through the crowd, everyone was keen to see what animal they would be in another universe. It was almost comical to watch, especially in the case of the Panda Lin and she chuckled. 

_ “Even know we’re going to need much more help, this is a very good start.”  _ She heard Khu-Shui say in her head in approval to which the shadowbender mentally agreed with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now our heroes are back in the Prime universe, AKA the Canon one, all thanks to the three Asami's fixing up the crystal! WOO! And it works even better now! Now, while I would like to brag, how the Crystal was fixed and all the science talk during the scene was all Coniine's doing. Her thing, if you read her fics, is science, so she was able to write up a believable way for the crew to fix up the crystal, while also making it work within the series. So praise her there, not me. XP Also, confirmed, Lin Hanzo was a lavabender before she died again. And of anyone noticed the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" reference, kudos!
> 
> And also, Hattori Beifong, thanks to being the guinea pig for the glove, finally got to confront his past and admit to his Izumi his regrets and not only won her back, but also found out the version of Iroh II from his and One-Arm Kya's universe is his son... Certainly out of nowhere, but personally speaking, I sort of HC that in the Prime Universe, that something somewhat similar happened, but with Bumi II being Iroh's dad. But again, just HC. Also, not only did we give a name for Izumi's daughter, Mihoshi (Hi obvious Tenchi Muyo reference!), but also a personality... which is pretty much like the original Ty Lee if she bore resemblance to the Azula we know and love. XD We liked the idea of her being quirky and silly, while also being an accomplished writer/reporter who happens to be a princess. And fancasting wise, while it's honestly easy to go with Kristen Schaal (Easy to read Mihoshi's dialog with Mabel's voice), i'm rolling with Michelle Ruff, the voice of Fujiko Mine from "Lupin The 3rd", Yoko Littner from "Gurren Lagann" and Rukia Kuchiki from "Bleach". Mainly cause she could do younger hyperactive voices too like as Sakura in the "Street FIghter Fighter" anime.
> 
> Now, the next couple chapters are sort of set within the week before the big final battle, aka the "Get your shit together" period, which means we're getting more character stuff in before shit goes down and some others will get some focus on them, including some minor characters who need it. Till next chapter, keep reading, give kudos, reviews and bookmarks!


	20. Chapter Nineteen- Shared Bloodlines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A CHAPTER EARLY! NOT ANOTHER ONE! Eh, felt like it. XD Also, no trigger warning this time, just a simple, fun character based one. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

The crew were taking their long overdue breather, even with knowing what was to come in a week, they had all deserved it.

"Are they the last ones?" The core group turned their attention to Pema walking up to them. 

"Yeah," Korra answered. "Sorry to pile everyone onto you guys."

"Don't worry about it. We can handle it." She looked at Meelo in the center of a group of Asami’s, trying to show off his airbending before flopping on his face. She couldn't help but laugh as he tried to play it off like he meant to do that. "Doubt we have enough, but me and the Acloties tried to at least prepare some food and lemonade for everyone." she said to the crew. "Tried being the keyword, you're welcome to help yourself."

"Oh, yes please!" Bolin said, hurrying to stand up. "I could go for any cold drink right now." He rushed to the kitchen, and everyone else within the group followed him except two as Thuy had pulled Mako back, a bit unsure.

"Love, I wanted to tell you something..."

He furrowed his brows. "Everything ok?"

Thuy nodded. "I think there's somewhere I need to go."

The firebender already knew what she was going to say. He had a feeling she would ever since the conversation they overheard in that future universe. "I understand." he said, holding her hands. "You have to do this."

"You know what I want to say?" Thuy asked, bit thrown offguard.

"You have to go to the Fire Blossom Sanctuary. I get it." Mako smiled, although a little sadly. "But we'll all be waiting for you to come back. I'll be here for you still." 

The metalbender tilted her head, a smile spreading on her lips too. "Wow, Korra and Asami were right, you really aren't good at this guessing thing. I was gonna ask if you wanted to come with me, moppet."

Mako raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh... Oh!” This was a surprise, he felt like a weight was lifted, but Mako, try as he might, didn’t know how to show it without seeming aloof. “Well in that case, of course!"

The mohawked girl giggled, seeing him get a little flustered. "I mean, I need someone to get lost with, don't I? Why not my favorite lightning bender who I love." 

"I'm the only lightning bender you know, but that's a fair point," Mako said back, giving a quick peck on her lips, though something else did pop into his mind. "We don't really know where it is." 

Thuy shrugged. "I'm sure it's similar in direction to the one in the medieval universe. We'll find it, especially after we ask around. I'm sure Tenzin might know."

Mako nodded, considering the whole idea. If anything, it sounded exciting - like an old fashioned adventure. Plus it'd be with the girl he loved.

"Let's do it."

* * *

_Hours later..._

Somehow, the climate was hotter here than it was in the medieval universe, and both Mako and Thuy were sweating as they saw the Sanctuary finally coming up as they rode in a Satomobile. As they reached the gates, Thuy started to slow down the vehicle. 

"Are you alright?" Mako asked her. 

She was staring at the statue of the past Avatar. It was nearly identical to the one in the medieval universe, sans the sword and hat, and even she could notice the resemblance between herself and the statue. So it was true in this world too. 

"Yeah, just fine love." Thuy answered. Avatar Hiromi really was her ancestor. 

Mako took her hand. "Come on. Let's meet the fire nuns here."

The introductions were short, especially after Korra's message about the final battle. Word had reached even here and everyone was well aware of the short amount of time. Although the nuns here wanted no part in the battle, as soon as they spotted Thuy’s resemblance to their founder, they welcomed her and her boyfriend in. They treated them to dinner in the fire hall and a cup of that famous fire nation tea. 

As much as the nuns were kind to them, Thuy felt like something was missing. They hadn't seen Azula anywhere in this universe, if she was part of the society, and it felt like the nuns weren't showing them something. The nuns had offered to take them on tours of the library, garden and underground herbariums, but it sounded like there was something more to it all that they weren't letting on.   
  
Mako was starting to get the same feeling as his girlfriend. As they finished their tea, they exchanged a look, and seemed to share a plan between them. 

"Excuse me, Fire Sisters?" Mako said, getting the attention of the couple of nuns that were attending to them. "We think that tour of the gardens you mentioned would be nice. Right?" he turned to Thuy for approval and she nodded. 

The nuns smiled, one nodding back. "Wonderful. Follow us."

They took the couple through the grand corridors and unlocked the doors leading out the back of the Sanctuary, where, unbeknownst to them, were acres of neat, and carefully tended land. 

"Besides our vast knowledge of spirits and the ancient tomes, we value our close relationship to the nature spirits of the area. Many times, they were our vessels to commune with deeper, more elusive spirits, so we keep the gardens beautiful and tidy to show our respect." The fire nun leading them around explained. 

They had to admit, everything they were seeing was impressive. They walked along pats surrounded by clear streams full of colorful fish, and flowering cherry trees. The plants grew almost perfectly, with clear, bright leaves untouched by pests or disease. 

"You see, here is the shrine to the spirit of land that was here before we built the temple." The nuns took them to a small foyer, and started talking about the rune stones placed there, honoring the generosity of the spirits that allowed them to coexist with them. 

At this moment, Thuy looked at Mako again, and he gave her a faint nod. 

"So, ah, sisters..." he said. "Are there more shrines like this?"

"Of course! We live to appease all the spirits that have helped us."

"We'd love to know more."

The nuns were excited to talk about these things. It was obvious that whatever visitors they did get at the sanctuary, they weren't usually as interested in the things they devoted their lives to. 

"Of course," they said. "Follow us." 

As the two nuns were engrossed in their explanations, pointing and explaining the different runes and symbols, Mako stayed behind while Thuy was able to slip away unnoticed. She wasn't sure where she was going, but it was obvious that there was a part of the sanctuary that the nuns were trying to keep hidden. 

Yet something within her was telling her to take notice of the long stream.

Following it upwards, the metalbender noticed it widen until it met back up to the river from which more streams like it sprouted. Willows grew either side of the water and she pushed through their hanging branches, parting them as she headed further up. 

Through the greenery, she noticed the high cliffs that hugged the back of the sanctuary, and realized the river originated from the side of the rocks here. An impressive waterfall sprung high above her head and the sound of the water hitting the ground next to her became louder as she approached. It became clear there was an entrance in the rocks, slightly obscured by the falling water. 

With that, Thuy earthbended a path for herself, trying to reach the dark opening. She could barely see anything in the darkness of the cave and she wished Mako was with her for some firebending.

But it wasn't long until a piercing light broke out in front of her. She flinched, taking a step back. At her feet were glowing blue embers. 

Thuy looked up, and there the girl saw her. Standing tall was none other than a beautiful looking dragon with the blackest of scales, the whitest of hair and the bluest of eyes. 

"So that's what they were hiding here..." She whispered to herself. She tried taking a step closer to the creature, but it backed away from Thuy, her nostrils flaring and tiny blue cinders lit up with each breath. 

"Easy there, sweetie." she held her hands out. "I don't wanna hurt you, alright?" 

The dragon seemed to consider her a moment. Her breathing was loud, and furious. It was a wonder she hadn't attacked the strange human straight away, but instead she tried to understand what she was seeing, or who she was seeing. 

Thuy took another step towards her and this time she didn't back away, nor try to attack. She was curious.

"It's ok..." she said, trying to put on her best soothing voice. "I'm… I’m a friend, please don't cook me up."

The dragon's eyes followed her movements, but slowly she brought her head down to study her better. There was _something_ she recognized in the metalbender. 

Thuy held her hand out towards his snout. A move she realized was foolish as soon as she had done it, but the dragon didn't shift. She worked up her courage and went all the way, touching her softly on his nose. She could feel her puff out a hot gust of smoke against her forearm, but it wasn't enough to burn her. Perhaps she greeted her. 

"So, she does recognizes you."

Thuy jumped, pulling her arm back and spinning round at the sound of the voice. Walking into the cave after her, she could just about make out the silhouette of a familiar figure. 

"Azula?" 

"I realized who you were as soon as you came here with the cop, Thuy Huynh of Zaofu." The Fire Mother said, said girl shocked that this Azula somehow knew who she was. "You're Hiromi's descendent, aren't you?" She crossed her arms as she looked at Thuy, her eyes, even after all this time, still full of malice, whether intentional or not. 

"It's what I'm told." The metalbender replied.

"Well, there's no denying it now." Azula looked up at the dragon. She watched her back. "There's no other way Zuzu's dragon wouldn't have burnt you into a crisp right here."

Thuy looked in disbelief. “Wait, _THAT’S_ _Zuko’s dragon?!_ ” Her voice full of surprise as she asked, turning to the creature. “But I thought his dragon was red!”

“You are correct about Druk, yes, but she's his twin sibling, Kurohi.” The former princess told, approaching the dragon with her own hand out to its nose, softly petting her. “My dear brother gave her to our society to protect us only if needed and we protect her in return.”

Thuy looked at the beautiful creature before looking at Azula. “I heard you died years ago by Zuko’s hands, but clearly from here and other universes, that’s not the case.” She observed to which the old woman gave off that familiar grin of her’s feared by many.

“Oh, the things many think are true, but turn out to be false. And what’s false likewise is true.”

“Azula, we need your society’s help, we need Kurohi to be at our side.” The girl said, approaching the Fire Mother.

“With the battle against Sha-Garou and his Avatar plaything? Yes, we heard everything. Hard to miss the large glowing Avatar, even somewhere remote as here.”

“The sisters said they wouldn’t help, but you of all people should know when pure evil needs to be stopped!” Thuy pleaded, only to get a small chuckle from the old woman.

“Oh, trying to remind me of my... _rambunctious_ years, I see.” Azula said as she seemingly rolled her eyes, turning away. “That won’t convince me or my sisters to fight, it is not our battle to face, your Avatar Prime made it clear the choice was optional.”

The mohawked girl stood there, mouth agape at what she heard.

“But, you can’t just stand by while Korra, I and the others go to fight! We need your help, we all know your brother and his dragon will be on our side!”

“And that’s Zuko’s choice to make.” The golden eyed woman said, her back was turned, holding her hand up as if she was waving Thuy off. “As Fire Mother, I speak for my children of fire when I say we’re not fighting, that is that.”

“So that’s that? You’re just gonna sit on the sidelines and possibly let that shadow spirit bastard win without even doing anything to help?!” Thuy called out, shocked to hear this as she saw Azula begin to walk back into the darkness.

“My word is final, you can leave us now…”

“Is this what Avatar Hiromi would want from you girls?!”

“She’s dead, she has no say in this.”

The young girl just stood there, unable to accept this, trying to raise her hands up as she tried to think of something. And something Thuy did think of as she gave out an amused huff.

“I get it now, you don’t want to involve yourself or your fire nuns in the fight because it’s not your problem…”

Thuy then looked up at the blue eyes of Kurohi with a smirk on her face before turning back into the darkness as she heard the footsteps being farther away.

“It’s because you’re scared!”

In the darkness, except for the crackling embers that barely lit the cavern, the footsteps stopped, with no sound being made briefly…

_… until a orb of blue flames lit up within the blackness, held by an old hand._

“What was _that?_ ” Azula’s voice, though aged and tempered, slashed through the air like a sharp blade, the descendant of Avatar Hiromi knowing what she said.

“I said you won’t fight because _YOU’RE SCARED!!_ ”

Thuy watched as the blue flames looked to move around in the darkness, that smirk still on her face as she watched the colorful flames begin to come closer as were the sounds of footsteps, seeming to pick faster the nearer they came until the Fire Mother finally stopped in front of the metalbender.

“How _dare_ you make that claim about the Fire Blossom Society.” Azula hissed out, her eyes burning as bright as the fire she held up.

Yet Thuy didn’t make a single move, she just looked into those angry eyes as she gave a small, but mockful laugh. “Oh, Fire Mother, you got me wrong, I wasn’t saying that about your little club.” She then took a step closer up to the daughter of Ozai, making sure she got a good look at her brown eyes.

“I was saying that about _YOU._ ”

The millisecond the metalbender uttered the last syllable of that last word, Azula waved her arms out in unrestrained fury, allowing her blue flames to engulf her arms, not burning her robe, but surely lighting up the caverns as Kurohi watched the sight in interest.

“YOU WATCH YOUR TONGUE, INSOLENT LITTLE INSECT!” The Fire Mother bellowed out, the old Azula that sooner cut you down for the simplest mistake coming out once more.

But Thuy wasn’t scared of the murder staring her right into her soul, ready to set her ablaze, she hadn’t even flinched at the light show. Instead, she just shook her head, a look of disgust clear on her face.

“Why should I? Because apparently I’m not talking to the infamous Azula, former crown princess of the Fire Nation, daughter of Ozai, leader of both the Fire Warriors and the false Kemurikage, the woman who almost ended the Avatar Cycle. I don’t even see the Fire Mother of the Fire Blossom Society in front of me!” She yelled out as she remembered the other Azula she met before as the one in front of her watched, slightly lowering her arms as the flames slowly began died out.

“Now, the Azula I met in another universe, she knew, even in her advanced age, knowing what she had done in the past, that Sha-Garou had to be stopped and fought alongside those against him, fighting side by side with two Avatar Korra’s.” She explained as her voice larger as she spoke, remembering what choice she made.

“She gave her own life to save not just that of her universe’s Avatar, but also her fellow sisters and her own daughter, whom she named after the woman she loved! SHE’S MORE OF AN AZULA THAN YOU’LL EVER FUCKING BE!!”

Breathing deeply to catch her breath, Thuy just looked into the still unchanging rage filled eyes of the firebender, shaking her head before leaning closer to Azula’s ear, making sure she saw her face as she whispered her next words.

“All you are is just a scared little old lady who _NO ONE_ fears anymore.”

With those words, seeing the Fire Mother’s eyes widened in fury, Thuy began walking past her with a knowing smile, her back to Azula as she left her standing in place, fuming.

“How DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT ME!” Azula’s voice echoed out in the cavern, followed by a burst of blue fire flying right past the side of Thuy’s face, just missing a hair strand or two with the hot air zooming on by, making the metal bender stop, as the flame flew into the darkness, finally heard hitting a wall after more than ten seconds.

“I’m sorry love, you say something?” Thuy simply said, a smile worthy of the former princess herself on her face as she turned around to see Azula standing there, the Fire Mother once more showing her past self as she stared burning daggers into the metalbender’s eyes.

“I am not scared, I've never been scared to fight, PEOPLE SHOULD BE SCARED OF _ME!_ NOT SOME TOOTHLESS SHADOW SPIRIT WORM, MMEEEEE!!!”

“Oh, really?” Thuy asked, walking back up to the old woman. “Well, prove me wrong then, join us and fight against Sha-Garou, help us destroy him once and for all! Not just for the Avatar, not for the universes, not for you, but for your fellow fire sisters and your daughter, Ty Lee!”

“ _ALRIGHT, I WILL!!_ ” Azula yelled out her answer as loud as she could as she looked at the girl, breathing through her teeth in burning anger…

… before realizing something just then, she just fell into the trap of this simple girl from Zaofu.

And after a few seconds, the Fire Mother put on a knowing smile.

“I see, weaponizing both my caring nature for my sisters and my daughter, along with my old weakness, pride.” She said as she kept her gold eyes on Thuy's brown ones, who gave her own knowing smile back. “Clever girl. You’re certainly part of Hiromi’s bloodline alright.”

“Thank you, _Fire Mother Azula._ ” The mohawked girl said, giving a proper bow of respect to the old woman who waved it off.

“Oh, cut that out, it’s pitiful of someone with your family legacy.” She groaned out until the black scaled dragon gave a slight growl, getting the two’s attention as they looked into Kurohi’s calm blue eyes, Thuy tilting her head at the beautiful animal.

"You think she knows that?"

"Of course she does," Azula spat. "She's not stupid." She took a deep breath. "Sorry. You mustn't have known."

"Known what?" 

"Avarar Hiromi's spirit animal was also the dragon. When she built the Sanctuary with her sisters, it was a dragon's breath that cleared the land and sealed the foundations. It's also what allowed our existence to be so in touch with the spirits here."

Thuy looked back at the dragon in the cave. She laid her head on the floor now, looking up at her. If she tried hard enough, Kurohi almost didn't look scary at all. More like a large, fiery polar bear puppy. 

"There's no doubt Kurohi sensed your heritage. Your spirit still has traces of Hiromi in it, and she was able to feel it as both Kurohi and Druk are from the same bloodline as Hiromi’s dragon. Exactly like how both knew me and Zuko were descended from Avatar Roku on our mother’s side."

"Does she... does Kurohi trust me?"

"See for yourself. I'm not your babysitter."

She had no idea what she meant by that, but Thuy walked closer to the dragon, seeing how she would react. Kurohi did nothing, just kept watching her with her still, wise eyes. It was almost nerve wracking. 

Thuy reached out and patted her head. The scales were awfully rough, but she chuckled. She had never even seen a dragon before, let alone pet one. 

Kurohi huffed. The metalbender had no idea what she was trying to say, but looking back at Azula, she noticed she was already gone. 

"There's this one thing I've always wanted to do," Thuy said. She didn't even know if the animal could understand her.

Azula said to see for herself, so she did. 

In a burst of courage, she heaved herself up onto the dragon's back, trying to get a good grip around her, but before she even knew it, she lifted his head and _darted out of the cave_. 

"WOAH!" 

Kurohi broke through the waterfall and soared in the sky over the garden. Thuy clung on for dear life, until she realized she was fine. The wind was rushing past her, but as she looked down, she could see everything at once, and it looked absolutely beautiful. 

"Jings..." she said to herself. 

The fire nuns had stopped explaining things to Mako and he frowned, following their shocked gazes upwards. His face went pale at what he saw. 

The blue eyes black dragon swooped down above them, landing next to him. 

"MAKO! Oh my Raava, check this out!" 

The firebender blinked. His throat had gone dry. "W- _What_?" 

"There was this cave, and Azula was there, she said-" Thuy started to explain, but realized there was too much to say. "You know what, fuck it, I'll explain on the way back. _BUT WE'VE GOT A BLOODY DRAGON!_ " 

Mako slowly started to smile as the shock wore off seeing the beautiful creature who seemed to trust him, with Thuy lending him a hand as he climbed on. 

The fire nuns were about to stop them, until Azula appeared. With a silent raise of her hand, the nuns held their protests back. 

"THANK YOU!" Thuy called out to her as the dragon was gathering air under his wings. 

The Fire Mother said nothing, but they spotted her sly smirk before they took off back to Republic City as dusk began to fall. 

“Mother…” Azula heard her daughter’s voice, turning to see Fire Sister Ty Lee behind her, wondering why Kurohi was let free with their guests. “What’s going on?”

“Ty Lee, inform every single sister who is able bodied and can fight to prepare themselves and the rest of the dragons…” Azula said, turning to her daughter as she gave that once evil smile of hers, now for good.

“For tomorrow, we make our way to Republic City to fight alongside the Avatar and her army.”

* * *

As the sun fell in Republic City, everyone on Air Temple Island, from this universe to other ones, sat and interacted with each other, amazed to see how different their other selves were.

Even those of this universe who had not been part of the interdimensional journey had begun arriving on the island as fast they could earlier in support of the Avatar, the first arriving after Mako and Thuy left to do their own thing.

“Woah, check it out…” Bolin The Magma Warrior said in awe as he watched the other him who was a waterbender do some tricks near the docks alongside Meelo’s own airbending and lemurs leading with Poki leading the way. “That is SO AMAZING.” He said, turning to an Opal dressed in similar garb to Master Air Monk Tenzin, who smiled at the act.

“Quite the show they’re giving, my brave warrior.” Opal The Wind Mage said, having her air arrow tattoos on her body, showing she had achieved the title of airbending master, kissing his forehead as he blushed.

On another part of the island, the Airbender-in-training Asami was assisting her father with building a large mech similar to the ones he made for the Equalists, only now with the insignia of all four elements proudly on it’s chest, with a patched up Kuvira helping modify it’s armor with some spare platinum she was able to provide through an old contact who had gone straight.

“So how much power will this hold?” Hiroshi asked from inside the machine, to which both Bataar Jr. and the high school Asami looked at a special box connected to the machine.

“With what I managed to scrounge up here, along with some batteries and conductors from my universe, we can generate enough to power the Colossus three times over, just with this box alone, _without_ spirit vines!” The younger Asami said as Bataar Jr. watched in awe at the box, holding it with gloved hands.

“So much power fitting in such a small form, amazing! Oh…” The Beifong engineer noticed a screw loose, putting it down and looking for a screwdriver, only to see the screw move on it’s own, getting back in place.

He looked up and saw Kuvira having held her hand up and using her metalbending in such a minor way, yet it did put a small smile on his face which the metalbender was happy to see.

High School Asami smiled, sensing the relationship between the two was regrowing, turning to see her Korra jump in glee at seeing Husky Korra before the two noticed both the animal and human versions of Fumi and Naga look at each other curiously, laughing at the sight.

“So many people are walking around, I don’t even need to lift my toe to know what’s going on.” Toph said in her… Toph-ness as she sat on a rock as Suyin stood next her.

“Still amazing to know there’s different versions of us all over the universes.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of neat I guess, nothing really mind blowing.” Her mother agreed until she felt another set of steps she was familar with. “What you got for us, Lin?”

“Something that might put some challenge to your claim, Chief.” She claimed, a rather small smirk on her face.

“Is that so?” The master earthbender asked. “Okay, hit me with your best shot, kiddo!” She laughed until she sensed some more footsteps coming towards her. “Okay, three people, not all that- Su, why’s your heartbeat going crazy?” She asked.

The reason was because Suyin herself felt like she saw a ghost, putting her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “I think Lin may have you beat.”

“What makes you say that?” Toph asked in a confused way.

“Hello mother…”

It took hearing that voice for the legendary bender to stop in place, feeling her eyelids blink rapidly at the voice she swore she last heard back at the train station months ago.

“ _Hattori Hanzo?_ ” Her voice cracked as Hattori Beifong stopped closer to her, kneeling down as he put on a smile. “You’re-”

“Alive? Well, in my universe, yes.”

“Wait a second, _your_ universe…” She said, noticing the added metal on him she sensed as he kneeled, it was so familiar. “Are you the chief of police there?”

“Yep, learned from the best. Chief Hattori Beifong” Hattori said as he saw the light in her eyes pale eyes shine in joy.

“Oh, just hug him already.” Lin said, putting on a knowing smirk as Toph couldn’t help but hug Hattori.

She knew that while he wasn’t the same son that died again saving her sister, it still felt good to hear his voice again. “Who’s the other two?” She asked, curious.

Lin smiled, looking at both Hatori and Cat Hattori. “The other Hattori’s who managed to survive in their universes.”

“Just call me Lady Hatori if it helps.” The damaged eye woman said, enjoying seeing the old woman look so surprised to hear her voice before getting a tight hug from her too, tighter than her own mother's in fact.

“Spirits, there’s a lady you too?”

“Think that’s crazy, I’m a walking talking bobtail cat.” Cat Hattori pointed out, getting a big laugh out of the Beifong woman.

“Of course you’d be a cat, OF COURSE! Always liked them.” Toph was not surprised to hear that, just happy to actually meet three different versions of her son, petting Cat Hattori’s head, who liked it as she began scratching his ear. “Oh, you’re a furry one.”

Hatori then turned to a still breathless Suyin. “And nice to see another you too, sister.” She said, noticing her jewelry. “I love the necklace.”

“Thank you... Lady Hatori, your…” Suyin began, feeling her metal necklace before noticing her odd attire. “Choice of clothing is different.”

“I thought so too, kinda wanted to rock the “Cool Metalhead Old Lady” look.” Hatori noted, taking off her hat.

“But there’s no metal on your head.” Suyin asked in a confused tone, not knowing the term as her alter sister laughed, letting the founder of Zaofu try on her hat.

“Oh, so many things to explain.”

“And with the exception of Lady Hatori, the other two are metalbenders.” Lin pointed out, making Toph curious at this.

“Really, what kind of bender are you then?”

Hatori smirked, holding out her hand, showing off her firebending with a small ball of beautiful green flames, Toph hearing the crackling. “Firebender, same as my father.”

“Damn, how are those flames green?” Cat Hattori asked, feeling his eyes going as wide as, self-groaning as it was to admit, a cat’s as he felt tempted to paw at it as the five other Beifongs laughed. Toph herself thankful that even if three of them weren't from her universe, she was able to have a perfect moment with her three, or rather, five children once in her life.

“Hey, everyone! Hey!” Bolin tried to yell out as he held his glass of lemonade, trying to get everyone’s attention. “Hey!”

Yet no one seemed to notice or care, until Opal walked up to him and nodded, turning to the crowd of people. “HEEYY!!!!” She yelled out as loud as she could.

THAT got everyone’s attention as they all turned at the couple, Opal giving a small bow. “Thank you…”

“Right, so… um…” Bolin tried beginning, but seemed to stumble over the big speech he had planned, looking at Opal. “I’m screwing up-”

“No you’re not, you’re doing fine.”

“Okay, okay…” He said as she kissed him to motivate him, turning back to the others. “Um, okay, so I know you are all well aware of what’s going to happen in the now almost six days, us going against some evil shadow spirit who's in control of a Korra and his shadow army.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious!” Toph’s voice yelled out.

“Yes, thank you Toph!” The earthbender deadpanned before clearing his throat. “Now, those we have traveled with and those who are here from the universe where Zuko is still Fire Lord and Korra is from the Fire Nation already know this.”

“But a lot of those from other universes, including everyone else from this universe, such as my parents and family, don't know this, so Bolin decided what with everything going on…” Opal explained before turning to Bolin. “Wanna just announce it at the same time?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Count of three, ready?”

“Yeah. _One…_ ”

“ _One…_ ”

“Wait, are we counting down together or-”

“GET ON WITH IT!” The fire bender Korra too yelled out as her Water Tribe Asami nudged her shoulder with a cute smirk.

“Okay, right.” Opal noted before looking at Bolin, smiling as she held out her hand with her engagement ring on her ring finger, both saying at the same time...

“WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!”

That got a loud cheer from everyone on the island, clapping their hands for the couple as Suyin and Bataar Sr. both made their way to their daughter and future son-in-law. “Opal, _this_ is quite the… wow, I can’t believe this…” Su said, tears in her eyes, smiling at her little girl’s ring.

“Big step there Bolin, think you can handle it?” Bataar Sr. asked the earthbender who nodded.

“Bataar Sr., dad, future father-in-law, got to get used to the names, there were two times where we both got hurt and-”

“ _You_ got hurt?!” Suyin felt a shiver down her spine as she said that, looking at her daughter who laughed to calm her mother down.

“Don’t worry, both Kya’s were there to heal us, we’re fine.”

“Yeah, but seeing Opal get hurt, it made me realize that we had no idea if we were gonna survive going through different dimensions and…” Bolin tried to think of the right words. “I decided that if I’m gonna die, I want to be at least be the fiancé to the most wonderful, sweetest, beautiful, great, cute, sweetest-”

“You said “Sweetest” twice.” Hattori noted, passing by the young couple.

“Right, the best girl I know.” Bolin finally finished as he held Opal’s hands, looking into her eyes.

“And even as you fumbled over the proposal and I already knew about the ring, I couldn’t say no to you.” Opal said back with her wonderful smile on her face, kissing his nose as Bolin blinked twice in surprise.

“Wait, you knew?”

Opal laughed. “Y-Yeah, I… found the box in your coat pocket back in that Red Lotus universe while you were resting.” The Airbender admitted, her cheeks reddened, not that she regretted it. “BUT, I still felt surprised when you actually proposed. I love you Bolin.”

“I love you too, Opal.” Her fiancé said before swooping her down and kissing her on the lips before moving them away. “Love you so much, I’d give my life to protect you during the battle.”

“And now that you just said that, you just jinxed yourself.” Toph’s voice rang out as the old bender approached the happy family.

"Mother!" Suyin called out.

“Grandma!” Opal too said at hearing what Toph said.

“What? It was a joke!” The master earthbender claimed.

Bolin looked at her. “Well, joke or not, I don’t care, If I die protecting my future wife, at least I can die happy, so neh.” He said, sticking his tongue out Toph, who quickly grabbed it with just two of her fingers to his and Opal’s surprise.

“Hey, lovebirds got my approval.” The blind woman said with a sincere smile as Bolin whined and struggled, yet not trying to rip his tongue off.

“Grandma Toph, please let go of my future husband’s tongue.” Opal asked in her sweetest, if still worried, tone to which Toph did, quickly hugging her granddaughter.

“I’m so happy for you.”

“As am I.” A familiar deadpan tone rang out behind the couple, with Bolin screaming bloody murder as he hid behind Opal, who saw the voice came from Eska and Densa, having traveled to the island to provide the Northern Water Tribe’s assistance in the battle.

“You scream like a girl.” Desna noted in his similar style to his sister.

“Can’t argue there, Eska.” Toph nodded her head.

“ _Desna._ ”

“I’m blind and you two talk alike, cut me some slack weirdo.” She said back, leaving the newly engaged couple with the twins.

“Ah… so, thank you Eska?” Opal asked, unsure if the water tribe girl meant her remark, knowing of the horror stories Bolin told about her.

“Welcome, the awkward turtle duck needs a strong Spider Cat to lead it, he will be your perfect love slave.” Eska simply said, patting Opal’s shoulder, with Bolin slowly creeping back away from her hand.

“Oh, you mean 'Perfect _husband_ ', yes?” Opal asked, wondering if the one half of the Northern Water Tribe leaders made a mistake, only for Eska to shrug.

“Yeah, sure, maybe.”

Bolin grabbed Opal, nodding as fast as he could as he dragged her away. “Well, nice seeing you two again, don’t be strangers!”

‘Wait, did she just call me a _spider cat?_ ” Opal was heard asking as both twins then took notice of Huan standing against the wall, not willing to interact with the others as much.

“Why so down?” Densa asked the artist Beifong who shrugged.

“Erm, I got recruited into this battle against my own will while I was in the middle of a perfect idea for my next sculpture.” He explained in his seemingly bored tone.

“Speaking from experience, spirits like this Sha-Garou one are bad news. Sounds like they need all the help they can get.” Desna noted in his not at all high volume.

“I know and part of me does care enough to fight alongside my family.” Huan admitted before rolling his eyes. “Even know I’m not the fighting type.”

He then noticed Eska _seemingly slid in front of him_ , her eyes seemingly focused on him, as if zooming right into his soul. “If you want some motivation, how’s about this? Either fight alongside your family, or else I'll feed you to a pack of dolphin piranhas.” 

And yet, the threat didn’t seem to phase Huan.

“You already know my answer, which is why I haven’t attempted to leave this damn island. That being said, I’m not against the dolphin piranhas either.” 

With that, the artist walked off, leaving the two alone, Eska tilting her head a bit towards where Huan went, the corner of her mouth just creaking in an upper angle.

“... I _like_ him. Think I might be in love.”

Desna sighed. “Eska, you got poor taste in men.”

“Hey, guys, what’s that shape in the clouds?” Firebender-in-training Asami asked, pointing up into the sky as everyone took notice, seeing a shape indeed move through the night sky seemingly in their direction.

“Anyone have any ideas?” Princess Izumi asked as her father stepped next to her, trying to get a good look, only to feel his eyelids widen at what he realized it was.

“It _can’t_ be…”

“No old timer, it most certainly is.” Bumi said as he stood next to Fire Lord Zuko with an all knowing grin on his face, his dragonfly bunny spirit friend floating over his soldier, Bum-Ju tilting his head upwards.

The shape then moved past the full moon out and it became clear what was flying in the sky in the moonlight.

“It's a dragon!” Yasuko pointed out with a toothy smile while in Bunny Thuy’s paws with her mommy and mama, the Korra and Asami from the cobblestone universe and the metalbender bunny realizing she was right.

“She’s right!” The cap wearing Korra yelled out as the dragon began its descent down towards the island, with everyone realizing both Mako and Thuy were riding it, the latter in control.

“HEY GUYS!” Mako’s voice rang out as he and her girlfriend waved at the people.

“‘ELLO! WE GOT US A DRAGON!” The mohawked girl yelled out as Koruhi flew by the island, the wind speed from her wings blowing over high school Wu into his darling Mako’s amused arms as it flew by.

Noticing a large enough spot on the island that looked empty, Avatar Hiromi’s descendant lowered down and rubbed her new friend. “Right there hun…” She said to which the dragon made a sound of approval, landing itself onto the grassy part of the island with ease as everyone watched them land.

“Mako, _hold on tight_.” Thuy smiled as she looked at everyone, her boyfriend doing as she said as she held onto Koruhi.

“What are you thinking?!” He asked, not knowing was planned as the dragon leaned back and with a mighty majestic roar, _flames of blue spewed up into the night sky,_ giving everyone on the island a beautiful sight to behold as the creature let itself down.

“A dragon?!” Tenzin asked, mortified at the prospect of such an animal on his father’s island as both Jinora and Ikki marveled at the animal.

“And here I thought I had my cooking skills cut out for me.” Pema said with a sigh, but a happy one as she let down a curious Rohan in her arms as he and many others approached the couple and their newest ally, with their own story to tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeppers, like I said, chapter up early, cause why not?!? We have ourselves a bunch of breathers for the most part in the next couple chapters, aside from a scene in the next chapter, but hush. But still, with our crew getting ready for what's to come within a week in-universe, some stuff has to get put dealt with. The first being in the first half with Thuy (With Mako's help) venturing the Fire Blossom Society and convincing Azula (Who indeed in the prime universe is also still alive) and the Fire Nuns to join the battle.
> 
> THAT scene was fun for me and Coniine to write as not only did we get to write a bunch of lore about the fire nuns, but the scene of Thuy arguing with Azula and finally getting her to agree to fight is one of my favorites in the entire fic. It was just a perfect scene of a classic character interacting with a younger OC. Plus, now our heroes got a dragon on their side (Along with Druk with Zuko), with Kurohi (Which is Japanese for "Black Fire") connecting with Thuy due to their shared bloodline with Avatar Hiromi and her spirit animal.
> 
> Also, plenty of more character interactions with canon characters, alternative versions of them and even some side characters from the show, including Eska and Desna, Huan (I admit, the teased pairing of him and Eska was my idea), Suyin and Bataar Sr., getting both Kuvira and Bataar Jr. back (The relationship looking to be slowly coming back) and many more. The next couple chapters do allow me and Coniine to also give some spotlight to other characters we haven't gotten to give as much attention to for one reason or another.
> 
> Well, until next chapter, hope you liked this one, please comment, give kudos and bookmark!


	21. Chapter Twenty- Three Mothers, Three Pasts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, brand new chapter... slightly earlier than normal, but shut up. XD Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references/descriptions of some graphic violence, depression and the death of children. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

Close to midnight, everyone had fallen asleep for the most part, the Air Temple having room not just for those who lived there, but also for the crew and their visitors from other universes who needed a place to stay. Half had chosen to stay in parts of the nearby city, if just to not overstuff the island.

As her wife and soon to be Fire Lord slept in a rolled out sleeping bag they had shared, the woman known as Hatori Beifong slowly moved her body out from it, so as to not stir Izumi awake, taking the time to notice all the others around them resting.

Slowly taking her time, the damaged eyed woman made her way across the room and near the doorway into the halls, where she took notice of a handled case holding something taken with her as she and Izumi made the jump, taking it in her hands.

After a short while of trying to navigate the halls, only having been on the island once or twice in her universe, Hatori found her way to where a large window overlooking the island was, seeing this new Republic City from it, it’s spirit portal still shining out like the one in her universe.

She even was able to see that Thuy girl laying against the stomach of her new dragon friend, which too slept on the grass, it’s inner fire and tail keeping her and Mako warm as they slept.

But Hatori was not there to watch people sleep on dragons, as cute as the sight was, nor to get a look of the lights of the beautiful city, she was there to see the full moon, looking to be not obscured by any clouds.

Hatori gave a kind smile as she sat down on the old stone foundation, putting the case down in the moonlight as she unlocked the locks keeping it closed, opening it to see the acoustic guitar Jissika and Miki gave her, softly taking it out.

Putting it in hand as she took a spare guitar pick out, the woman looked up at the moon. “Hey girls, It’s Hatori.” She said, her voice low as to not awaken anyone. “Sorry I’m not speaking louder, but with so many people around here sleeping, I don’t wanna bother ‘em…”

The woman with the good gold eye and the wounded one looked down at the guitar, thoughts going through her mind.

“I’m sure you heard what that big Korra said, about a battle that’s coming.” She spoke, hoping that her first family were still listening, like so many full moon nights like this. “I’ve decided to fight alongside her and the others. It’s going to be crazy, maddening and all that stuff…”

Hatori scoffed a slight bit. “Maybe I might die a second time… no…” She said, her voice calmer. “No, I will fight. I almost fell back into the flames at the school when I saw the reminder of what I became a year ago. But then I saw Izumi fighting Sha-Garou, getting hurt to protect Korra. I knew at that moment that I’d never forgive myself if I allowed her to get hurt more, or even…”

The damaged eye woman closed her good eye, not daring to think of the other possibility. “So I finally burned the negatives away and charged into battle, fighting not just to save her, but to make the last step to save my soul. That’s why I’m fighting now and in the future, not for revenge, hate, the want to see those who hurt us suffer…”

She then looked back at the moon, Hatori smiling at how bright it was. “But to protect those I love, those who gave me my soul back.” Looking back at the guitar strings and pick, a song came into mind.

“I have another song for you Jissika, you and Miki. Some of the lyrics may be a bit confusing for her to understand. But trust me, it makes perfect sense as while I love Izumi, you two will still always have my love.”

Strumming her guitar for a few notes and tuning the strings, Hatori began playing the guitar, moving the pick along the strings as she began softly singing, looking at the art her daughter painted on the instrument.

“ _Darlings, the ring is shining... Look, I'm trembling in the wind…. I seem to hear gentle whispers calling to me..._ ”

With that, Hatori moved her fingers along the frets, holding down a chord for a few seconds before strumming along some more, listening to the beautiful sound coming off the bare metal strings.

Normally she would use an electric guitar in her universe and allow herself to be wild with her own vocals.

But there are times like this, like this very moment, where the Beifong woman prefers the more calmer, sweeter sound of an acoustic guitar, it having more of an innocence to her, like the two who gave her the instrument for her birthday.

Playing it also allowed Hatori to use her softer and soothing singing voice, something few have heard, such as the Avatar and her girlfriend, her own family, and those she lost.

“ _Though there is more love than there are stars… there is only one love for you two and I…_ ” She had looked up at the moon, seeing Jissika and Miki smiling down at her in her head, knowing that the moon spirit was fine with sharing the space during moments like this.

“ _An unbroken thing..._ ” The guitar player felt her eyes fill with tears at that lyric, smiling back. “ _... that is…. my love for you two…_ ”

Once those lyrics left her lips, Hatori lowered her head, giving a moment of silence for those she lost, taking her hands off her instrument and onto the ground as she gave a silent cry for them.

“Why did you stop playing?”

The Beifong woman lifted her head at the voice, turning to see a small tan skinned girl with green eyes looking at her. Hatori remembered her from earlier, she was the adopted daughter of that one Korra and Asami from the cobblestone universe that she saw when she offered to tag along with them and Sami to pick them up.

“Oh, sorry little one, didn’t realize you were there.” Hatori said, her kind voice still in effect from the singing. “It was just a short song, that’s all.”

The child named Yasuko looked curiously, not knowing why this lady chose to sing and play her instrument alone, but then she noticed the tears still on her cheeks. They reminded her of the sad lady who looked like her mama and the other lady who looked like her mommy.

“I liked it.”

“Thank you, I wrote it for my family, my first one.”

“Are they not around anymore?” Yasuko asked, slowly approaching the woman she remembered appearing with the other ladies who looked like her mommy and mama. But unlike when she first met her, where this older lady was more active and always talking, the earth kingdom born child saw how calm, quiet and saddened she looked.

“No, they’re… they’re not, not anymore.” Was all Hatori could answer, not wanting to scar the poor innocent kid with the story of what happened all those years ago, seeing those curious green eyes look at her.

“I’m sorry you lost them. Were they nice?”

“Nice?” The Beifong woman snorted a bit. “They were the nicest people I’ve ever met.” She smiled. “More than my mommy, my sisters and even Izumi.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Asking alot of questions, aren’t you?”

“So I can know you better, Mrs. Beifong.”

Okay, Hatori had to laugh there, hearing the title that made her feel older than she already was. “Thank you, and just call me ‘Hatori’, alright?” She asked, getting a small nod and cute smile from Yasuko. “Good, and yes, I do miss them very much. But now, I got a question for you, why are you up and awake?”

Yasuko moved a bit, holding her arms around her small body, remembering. “I had a nightmare involving a scary looking tree from home.”

“Hey, it’s just a nightmare, it can’t hurt you. Besides, I’m sure that tree is more scared of you than you are of it.” Hatori said, feeling like she was comforting Miki once more.

“I was going to tell mama and mommy about it when I heard you next door.” The child said before taking note of the eyewound of Hatori’s, her attention focused squarely on it, which said woman couldn’t miss.

“Does my eye scare you?”

Yasuko shook her head, coming closer to look at it, moving a lock of Hatori’s long black bangs out of the way to see it better, the way the glazed over eye had still looked split in two.

“What happened to it, did you have a accident?”

Hearing the question, Hatori closed her other eye, feeling the memory of that night still linger, but she wasn’t letting it hurt her anymore.

“No, some… _very bad_ men hurt me…” She said in a small tone, once more not wanting to scare the girl, looking back up with a smile at Yasuko. “But it doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m much better now.”

“You can try healing it, maybe with a bandage.” The child innocently pointed out to which the firebender found amusing with her older cackle.

“Some wounds can’t be healed with just a bandage.” Boy, did saying that ring so true to Hatori, but she shirked it off. “But It’s fine, really, keeping it is my way of remembering what happened in the past and how I can move forward away from it, never letting it hurt me again.”

The black haired child nodded. “Well, maybe you can still ask that nice Kya lady to heal it up. I’ve seen her fix people’s boo-boo’s with her glowing water.”

“Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I never thought of that.” Said the woman, laughing at how true that was, but she was still happy with keeping the wound how it was. Then she saw the little girl touch her guitar with her fingers.

“You have a pretty instrument, Hatori.”

“Thank you Yasuko, it was a gift from my family.”

“The blue and white snowflakes painted on are neat.”

“They are, aren’t they? You’re quite the little smart one.”

Yasuko giggled at the complement. “My mommy loves teaching me art, she sometimes draws mama bending the elements.” She then tilted her head. “Can I ask you a question? Just one more?” Yasuko asked which Hatori nodded with a kind smile, feeling like she can’t stop the child from asking all these questions. “You said you were singing to your family, what were their names?”

Hatori sighed, looking up at the full moon. “Jissika and Miki, they were my wife and daughter.”

“Like mommy and mama with me?” The little girl asked once more before covering her mouth as she caught herself, giving an innocent smile. “Oops, sorry, I asked another question again.”

“It’s alright, Yasuko.” The damaged eyed woman said, putting her instrument away and getting up. “And yes, like you with your mommy and mama. They like hearing me sing from the spirit world.” They always liked her singing. Hatori then held her hand out. “Now come on, let’s get you back to bed, okay?”

Yasuko gave a small laugh and took Hatori’s hand with her own small one, grabbing three of the older woman’s fingers, the two walking over where she was sleeping, with the Beifong woman feeling like a mother again.

* * *

_Six days left..._

One Arm Kya had spent a good few minutes looking for Lin and the other Kya on Air Temple Island the next morning. The crowds of doppelgangers didn't make it easy, but she eventually found the two of them enjoying the lemonade Pema made out in the foyer. 

"You two got a moment?" she asked, walking up to the pair. 

"Shoot," Lin said. 

One Arm Kya sighed. She had always tried to keep her emotions in check, _mostly_ , but this time there was something gnawing at her mind more than she liked to admit. "I need to go back to my universe. Just one last time before the fight."

The couple listened to her quietly. 

"Reiko, my... my ex partner... needs to know. About our Korra." 

Lin and Kya gulped, realizing the sensitivity of the situation, especially knowing it wasn’t a topic their ally had made public. The waterbender nodded. "Of course. We'll come with you, if you need."

One Arm Kya let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I was going to ask, but I wasn't sure if you'd have the time."

Lin shrugged. "What else do we have to do? We're essentially waiting to see whether the world is gonna end or not and it's only down to us whether it does."

"Lin!" Kya nudged her with her elbow. 

"Alright sorry. That was a little morbid. But sure, I'll come too."

"Thank you both." Although the two of them weren't going to make the news she was going to break to Reiko any milder, it still felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. They headed back outside the temple, looking for Sami to ask for the crystal and the glove.

* * *

"Spirits, I hate this thing," Lin said, straightening her back as the purple light around them faded. It took a moment for their surroundings to come into focus, but the small, empty streets around them finally appeared. 

"We're here." One Arm Kya said. 

Lin and Kya looked around. Wherever they were, it didn't look familiar. The roads were quiet, and the houses here small with little ornate gardens, clustered together with short, cobblestone walls around their perimeters. 

"Where are we?" 

One arm Kya started to get her bearings. The crystal worked brilliantly, and they landed right where she thought they would. 

"This is the village Reiko and I lived in briefly. She came back here after we split," she explained, having Lin take off the glove for her. She looked down the roads, imagining her younger self walking into the town. "I grew up here too, for a little while."

Kya frowned. "What? Here?" 

The bloodbender nodded. "We moved around a lot, as you probably know. We lived here briefly, before we moved away again, depending on what father's duties were. The school I went to was..." she felt her throat tighten as she remembered her time there. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Anyway, the only good thing that came from this place is that Reiko and I moved her for awhile."

Kya looked around. The village was quiet and peaceful, and she couldn't imagine how the bloodbender could be so resentful towards it. Unless that wasn't what she meant. 

One Arm Kya walked across the road, coming up to the small bungalow. Colorful flowers lined the path leading to the red door, and she carefully opened the front gate before knocking on the entrance. 

They waited for a bit. It felt like she wasn't home until they heard faint footsteps on the other side. The handle turned, and the hinges squeaked as the door slowly opened. 

A woman answered it, her long, slightly greying brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She still had her gardening gloves on and her overalls were dirtied with patches of soil. Her dark blue eyes widened as she saw her former lover standing in front of her. 

"Kya?" she said.

The bloodbender wanted to smile. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other, but instead her eyes just filled with tears and she felt like she was about to cry.

"Spirits, come in," Reiko said, moving out of the way to let her inside, before seeing the other two she was with. Then she realized who they looked like. "W...What?" 

As Lin stepped through the door, she turned to the woman, "Another universe. Long story. Ignore us." 

Reiko opened her mouth to say something, before she decided against it. Ever since Avatar Korra's announcement, she felt like anything might as well be happening right now. 

She let them sit down on the couch as she pulled up a chair around the coffee table. 

"Can I get you anything? Tea or coffee?" 

One arm Kya shook her head. "No, sorry to disturb you like this."

Reiko chuckled. "Not at all. I was out digging for the daffodils when you knocked." She gestured towards her attire. "Hence the dirt."

The bloodbender wiped away a single tear from her cheek. Her first thought was to tell her she still looked lovely, even covered in dirt, but she bit back the remark. She hadn't come here to complicate things further.

"We'll give you two a minute," Kya said, taking Lin's hand and walking out of the room for a moment while they discussed what happened. 

"There was something I needed to tell you," she started. 

As soon as she heard her voice shake, Reiko knew it was serious, especially knowing how confident her ex’s voice usually sounded. She leaned forward in her seat to hear her quiet tone better. 

"You must have heard. About that evil Korra?"

Reiko nodded. 

"She came to our universe," One Arm Kya carried on. "She was after the Avatar. _Our Korra_."

The woman gulped, feeling her throat dry up. She was afraid of what her ex lover would say next, but she felt it coming. 

"And she got her, Reiko. She..." The bloodbender shut her eyes, another tear coming down her face. "She... She killed our daughter."

Reiko could hear her heartbeat in her ears. It seemed like the room was spinning and she felt as though the news wasn't sinking in. She had heard about the fight in Republic City, but nothing more. It was now becoming obvious that the news stations had hidden the Avatar's death away from the public. 

"Are... are you sure?" she choked out. 

One arm Kya nodded. "I tried to save her. I did everything I could. I... I even bloodbended again. But I couldn't save her. Her body was so limp in my arm." She finally let out her first sob. "I'm sorry, Reiko. I'm so sorry, I failed her." The tears kept coming, and by this point she couldn't do anything to stop them as she held her head by her one hand. 

Reiko stood up and slotted next to her on the couch, draping her arm over her as she felt her own chest ache with the crying she was trying to stifle. "It's not your fault, Kya. You did everything you could." She pulled her into a hug, letting her sob quietly against her chest, not wanting to cry herself. 

“I wanted her to finally meet you, to tell Korra the truth at her wedding. About who her real parents were.”

“It’s okay hun, it’s okay.” The still beautiful newhalf said in her soothing voice, which somehow had been unbothered by age.

They sat like that for a few moments, letting their tears free in each other's comfort. They cried together, and it felt like they were sharing the pain between them so it was easier on both of them. The familiarity of their embrace was coming back, and for a second, they might have even felt young again. 

Kya pulled away first, wiping her face with her hand. 

"Thank you for coming here and letting me know," Reiko said. "I'd much rather find out this way than from some news presenter."

The bloodbender tried to smile. "Well, turns out crossing dimensions is easy now, figured I had to tell you before shit goes down."

Reiko smoothened Kya's ruffled hair. "You take care out there, alright?" she said, trying to downplay the seriousness of the fight she knew she was getting into. "Don't... trip or something." 

Kya rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Why don't you go back to your daffodils and let me worry about it?" 

She nodded, slowly, letting a small moment of silence come over them. There were a lot of unspoken thoughts between them. "You know..." she broke the silence. "If I was a bender I'd come with you."

Kya shook her head. "Like I would ever let you." She knew Reiko well enough. The woman didn't have a mean bone in her body and fighting was the last thing she would ever see her do. "You just stay safe out here, and keep that door locked until you know it's over. But if anything busts through, stab at them with a trowel." 

Reiko couldn't help but laugh before she looked up into Kya's eyes. "Will you let me know that you made it out? When it's all over?" She gulped. "Would you come back and let me see you're alright?" 

That took the bloodbender by surprise, and the sudden fear of losing her own life clutched at her chest. She hadn't been afraid before. She almost hadn't cared before. 

"Yes," she said. "I will." 

Reiko smiled at that. "Thank you." 

Maybe there was a lot more that One Arm Kya wanted to say, but she decided against it. If something unspoken remained between them, then maybe it would keep her alive in the fight, just because she had a reason to come back again. She stood up, and their hands slowly broke apart from each other’s hold. 

"I'll see you afterwards then." One Arm Kya said. 

"I'll be waiting, Kya Bear."

Hearing the playful nickname Reiko came up with after finding out the bloodbender’s favorite non hybrid animal was a polar bear, it came out of nowhere for One Arm Kya, but she was happy to hear it again, if for possibly one last time.

And with that, she headed out, grabbing Lin and the other Kya on the way. As they walked out through the front gate, she looked back one last time. Reiko watched them from the doorway for a moment, before shutting the door and locking it behind her. 

"You still love her, don't you?" Kya said. 

The bloodbender was taken aback. "What?" 

"Don't play dumb. You know I can feel your energy," the healer replied. 

“Plus, your face turned redder than a tomato when she answered the door.” The Chief noted along with her partner as the one armed bender sighed.

"It's complicated. But of course I do. She's a great woman, more of one than anyone I know, even with how she was born. But what’s done is done." As they walked away, she looked back at the red door yet again. She shook all the what ifs that crowded her mind away. They had other things to focus on now. 

"Is there a place to eat ‘round here?" Lin asked. "I'm starving."

The two woman looked to One Arm Kya for directions. "Maybe the bakery is still here..." she said, leading them away down the road and further into town. 

The streets were quiet, and it was obvious that after Korra's announcement, the town's people had become worried enough to stay inside. The bloodbender preferred it this way. Her memories of the place always revolved around people, and seeing the empty roads let her relax, even for just a moment. 

They came up to a small building, but the smell of fresh baking told them the place was still open. They had a variety of cakes and pastries in the window, and as they walked in they felt the warmth from the ovens in the back. 

"I'll be with you in a moment!" The baker called out from the kitchen, hearing the bell above the door as the three of them walked in. 

“Oh, this place smells divine.” Kya said, already loving the scent of freshly baked pastries.

As they waited for him, they studied the array of different things he sold. If Kya remembered right, the last family that owned this place was getting old, and their children had moved out of the village. She was curious to see who they found to take over after all. 

"Sorry about the wait," the baker said, walking out from the kitchen, his apron covered in flour. "What can I get you?"

Lin and Kya were fixated on the cakes as One Arm Kya looked up. Her blood drained from her face. 

"Kya?" The man said.

The bloodbender froze. His voice had deepened severely as he grew up, but she could never forget the look on his face, even with it being older. _Nor forget what happened to his arms and legs._

"Is that you?" he said, still waiting to get a reaction out of her. 

Seeing him, One Arm Kya remembered exactly what had happened. She could almost picture it in front of her. She saw his flesh contorting, and bruises ooze from under his skin. 

"Buro _..._ " she said. "Yes. It's me." She watched him carefully. For a moment she wasn't sure whether he was going to lash out, but he was as still as she was. And the more she looked the more she realized... _he wasn't angry at all._ She looked at his body. His arms and legs were prosthetics made of metal that moved like any normal limbs, Buro must have been metalbending them to his needs. 

"It's been... so long," he said. 

She gulped. His young screams sounded in her ears. She had to focus to wipe away the impression that he was about to collapse at her feet, like he had all those years ago. 

"Yeah." she replied. "It has."

They stared at each other for a few moments. In the distance, it was like Kya could hear the teachers yelling and rushing over, their hurried footsteps resonating in her ears as she tortured the boy in front of her, even _after_ he apologized and begged her to stop. All because of what he said, what he had called her. 

"I... I'm sorry," she blurted out. She wasn't sure what else to say. The memories of what happened haunted her, but she couldn't imagine what they could do to him.

He gave her a smile. "It's okay, I'm sorry too, for… all I said." He looked down at his metal limbs that normally required so much focus to make them work, but now was almost second nature. "It's ironic in a way. I made fun of you for missing an arm and now I'm missing everything. Maybe I deserved it."

"No you didn't. You were just a child, you didn't know any better."

He looked up at her. His green eyes seemed to be at peace too, though One Arm Kya knew he was remembering the events too. "So were you." 

The bakery filled with silence for a few moments. Memories of the aftermath flooded One Arm Kya's brain. Teachers yanked her away from the boy, and the next thing she could remember was Katara screaming at her. One phrase stuck in her mind. 

" _Do you understand what you've done to him?!_ " 

She was crying too much to be able to answer her mother, but if she could have, she would have said no. 

" _No, mother. I don't._ " 

Buro held out his metallic hand, bringing her back to reality. She looked down at it. He was asking for a handshake. 

She gulped, then shook his hand. He was smiling, and she tried to as well. 

"I think we're both different people now..." he said. "I forgave you long ago, Kya. I ask that you forgive me too, despite all the pain I caused you."

Her throat tightened again, but she nodded. "I forgave you long ago too. I just... never thought _you_ would forgive me, after all... that. It was the worst thing that could have happened to you."

Buro nodded, getting it. “Can’t say I blame you there.” 

The man then pulled her into a hug. "But look..." he said. "I've got these cool arms and feet now, don’t gotta worry about burning my hands on a hot pan" As he pulled away, he showed her his arms and feet and she chuckled. She had to admit, she had never seen a metal limbed person before. “Thank the spirits my old man was a metalbender and I got it from him.”

Seeing that reminded One Arm Kya of Ming-Hua’s situation, only replace the water with metal and take out the legs. Or her when she used her water arm and hand. And Boru wasn’t trying to murder her, thankfully.

In that moment, Kya, along with Lin, realized why the bloodbender had said what she said about the village. Her and Reiko's relationship was the best thing that came to the village not because she thought the village had harmed her, but because she believed she had harmed the village. 

"Choose anything you want." Buro said. "It's on the house."

* * *

“So, I have to ask Buro, how were you able to, well, do all this?” One Arm Kya asked, pointing at his metal limbs before sticking the piece of choco cake on her fork into her mouth, which she had to admit tasted SO GOOD after the long travels.

The amputated man looked at one of his hands, seeing the metal fingers move with his bending as both Kya and Lin shared a piece of cherry and berry pie. “Well, after the doctors had to get rid of my limbs to prevent more infection, I had… fell into a bit of a depression, at such a young age too.”

The baker’s face slightly fell, the three women noticing it as he remembered lying in that hospital bed. “My parents, much as I love them, were too busy at the time threatening to sue you and your parents, including the freakin' AVATAR, for what happened to even be at my side. I just laid there in my bed alone, at first thinking to myself ‘ _Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?_ ’, that I was the victim and you the big bad evil bloodbender.”

He then looked at the glass of milk he had, grabbing it with ease. “I never believed in karma when I was younger, until a week later when a nurse tried feeding me soup with a spoon and I instinctively tried grabbing it with hands I longer had.”

Buro remembered the dawning look on his face in that hospital bed before breaking down at how useless he felt at the time.

“It was then I realized that while your bloodbending was obviously to blame for causing my arms and legs to get infected and needing to be cut off, I was just as much to blame for it.” He looked into One Arm Kya’s teal eyes, regret in his dark green eyes. “I was a dumb stupid bully who thought it was cool to mock a girl who couldn’t control the fact that she only had one arm, always calling her ‘Nubby’.” He then looked down at his legs.

“So karma decided to teach me a lesson. And at that moment, I never felt more useless in my life, so filled with self-hate.”

“So what put a positive spin on things?” Lin asked, sipping her cup of milk, noticing the slight glare from Kya at how they may have sounded. “I mean, clearly you’re more forgiving of both her and yourself is all I meant.”

Luckly, Buro wasn’t bothered by the possibly insensitive comment. “It’s okay, I got what you meant.” He then turned back to One Arm Kya, pointing at a photo hung on the wall. “Thankfully, the next day was then I met the girl who’d later become my wife, she’s a regular at the clinic.”

The three women turned to look at the photo, seeing what had to be a younger Buro ten years before with the metal limbs in front of the at the time reopened bakery, kneeling and posing in the photo with a light skinned woman with lovely brown eyes who sat in a wheelchair, noticeably lacking any kind of hair as he kept talking.

“Mokoto was born paralyzed from the waist down after her mother was in an accident hours before she gave birth to her. She also has had since she was young what doctors call ‘Alopecia’.”

“She lost every single trace of hair on her body at an early age.” Kya described to which both her other self and Lin looked at her surprised, which she noticed. “What? I learned it when I was training to be a healer.” She answered before eating a piece of pie.

“And you are correct… another version of Kya, sorry, still have to get used to this.” Boru agreed with her, still getting used to all this different dimension stuff the Avatar mentioned. “Anyway, while I laid on that bed cursing myself for what I caused, Mokoto happened to come by my room, saw how I was and asked if I needed company. I told her I didn’t deserve any sympathy, telling her how I got there and that I deserved losing my limbs. Yet she never once interrupted me and when she did speak, she didn’t raise her voice or even point her finger at me. I thought she was just pitying me, just to play the “Well, not to say you deserve it...” card.”

“But she actually felt bad for you, felt your pain, both physical and emotional..” One Arm Kya noted to which Boru nodded.

“She told me that I wasn’t a bad person for making fun of you and got what I deserved, just someone who realized that it’s easy to be on top if you don’t know what it’s like to be on the bottom. That I was just someone who just didn’t know the pain others' felt until I felt it myself.”

Lin turned back to look at the photo. “She sounds like someone who saw the good in everyone.”

“I know things weren’t easy for her growing up the way she did.” Boru said before taking a sip of his milk. “But Mokoto told me that she didn’t see her conditions as faults, but rather tools to make her life better by appreciating everything and everyone in her life, no matter how good or bad. Those words stuck with me.”

Standing up, the baker then walked over to a special display of a fake wedding cake, where the bride and groom looked similar to him and Mokoto, complete with a mini-wheelchair. “After that day, she always visited me in my room. Even after I began rehabilitation by using my metalbending to control my new arms and legs, there she was at my side, always there to lighten my day.”

“She sounds like a wonderful person.” One Arm Kya said with a smile to which the metal limbed man smiled back.

“Still is.” Then the sound of the door opening was heard as the bell rang, everyone turning to the entrance to see an older, but still beautiful Mokoto enter, riding in her wheelchair, a bag of groceries on her lap. “Ah, my dear.”

“And hello to you, my metal protector.” Mokoto’s voice came out of her mouth like a soft voiced spirit, reaching out to her husband who she gave a peck on the lips. “You’d not believe how crazy the market was with everyone going crazy over this Avatar universe thing. Thought I’d have to beat an old lady with a stick to get the last bag of sugar.”

Kya whispered over to Lin with a cheeky smile. “They’re so cute.”

“Eh, may know something… _cuter._ ” The Chief said with a whisper back, her mouth slightly forming a cheeky smile of her own, even if the word “Cuter” wasn’t one she’d use a whole lot.

The woman then took notice of the other three. “Oh, we have guests I see, hopefully paying ones.”

“Nope, on the house.” Boru answered with a smile, pointing his metal hand to the waving three. “That’s Lin and Kya…”

“The same Kya who helped teach you humility?” Mokoto asked, getting a small laugh from her husband as One Arm Kya approached the two, holding her hand out, feeling… happier than she did when she first came in the bakery.

“Close, that’d be me.” She said as Mokoto shook her hand, giving a light chuckle, her voice still remaining as spirited as before.

“Ah, I should have figured with the one arm. My husband speaks of you fondly whenever you and your police chief friend come up on the news.”

“Hey, One Arm, we think our time…” Lin pointed out, showing the metal glove with the purple in her hand as Kya, though wanting to know more about the baker and his wife, had to agree with her partner.

“Right.” One Arm Kya said as she looked at them, turning back at the couple. “Sorry, but we have to leave, have other plans for today. But it was so nice to meet up with you again Boru, heal up some wounds.” She apologized, looking down at Mokoto. “And it’s nice to meet you too Mokoto.”

“Likewise.” The woman in the wheelchair with the smile always on her face said back.

“Hey, Maybe if we all survive this whole 'End of the universes' thing, you can maybe come by for another visit, maybe bring more friends?” Boru offered to which One Arm Kya quickly gave it some thought.

“That sounds perfect.”

* * *

_The purple light was gone, the woman she loved vanished from this universe, her mind warped and poisoned by the shadow spirit who had given her such wicked ideas…._

_… at the cost of so many lives of those who only tried to stop their friend, ally and loved one._

_Asami Sato laid there on her stomach, arms out as the stinging of her nerves exposed from the large lacerations on her back pulsated, blood slowly falling from the wound and onto the ground, where the already large puddle of blood pooled around her._

_She tried to move, but it was too unbearable, even just reaching out to where her Korra had vanished shocked her body with intense pain, slowly feeling her life drain away like the red fluid coming out of her back, the slashes being too deep for healing._

_Not that it mattered anyway as the only woman who could even attempt to heal the wound laid on the floor of the lab dead, sharp pieces of ice sticking out of her back, except for one that entered through the back of her neck and out her throat._

_Kya, in one last moment of life, had reached out to where her lover, or rather the three pieces of Lin Beifong laid, the look of stone cold shock on the Chief’s face, blood having trickled down out of her mouth as the wall near her had a sharp piece of metal lodged into it, covered in her blood._

_The engineer whose company had found the Uchū Crystal gave a silent cry at the loss of life before the smell entered her nostrils, turning her head to see the burnt remains of the man who stuck by her as a close friend, even after they broke up. Tiny blue embers still crackled from Mako’s body._

_Nearby was his girlfriend, that friendly bouncer girl who had always got them free drinks at the bar she worked at, one of her own metal wire’s wrapped tightly around her throat, enough to bruise the neck as while one eye was closed, the other remained open, completely bloodshot from the strangulation._

_Then Asami heard a slight scratching sound behind her, trying to look and roll over without hurting herself, only to slip on the blood, her wounded back hitting the ground hard to make her cry out in pain, yet it allowed her to see Bolin and Opal._

_The two lovers, who had just become engaged, were stuck up against the wall, a large stone spike sticking out of their back and chests, leaving them forever together in death as the airbender’s hand still held her earthbender’s own, her engagement ring against the wall, her hand still twitching after death, making the scratching heard._

_“... no…” Asami weakly said, tears falling down her face before noticing in front of a corner the motionless form of Tenzin, his eyes and mouth widened, his eyes too red after having all the oxygen pulled from his body and suffocated to death._

_“... No…”_

_The Sato woman’s voice grew louder until she noticed that behind him, piled in the corner were three children in the airglider suits Airbender’s wore, piled onto each other, a small pool of blood under them. Two girls, one boy, with the oldest having the same blue arrow tattoos as her father who perished attempting to protect them._

_“NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!” Asami screamed out as loud as she could, realizing everyone she knew was dead, all by the hand of the fallen Avatar, the pain being too much for her as she looked back up into the ceiling and the lights._

_Everything that had led up to that moment played in reverse in her mind._

_From everyone being slaughtered, Korra demanding part of the Uchū crystal with those damn red eyes, getting the news of what she did to Guan from some guards and a dying Kuvira who held Suyin’s bloody corpse in her arms…_

_… Just waking up to see Korra accept Sha-Garou’s offer after telling her that she loved her._

_Witnessing Korra scream at the news of their loss, finding out herself that she lost the baby with Suyin at her side, that damn bastard pushing her stomach first into the rubble…_

_The night before when she, after enough time and thought, finally forgave Kuvira for her father’s death and personally asked her, alongside Korra, to be the godmother of Yasuko…_

_At that last happy memory, Asami Sato was ready for death, no longer having the will to live, knowing all of this led to losing the woman she cherished the most, closing her eyes for that eternal slumber, at least ready to be reunited with those who perished, even her parents…_

_“Asami…”_

_Hearing the voice that she didn’t recognize at first, Asami’s eyes burst open, seeing herself in a black empty void. Was she dead already? Even then, this didn’t seem like the spirit world_

_“No, you’re not dead… I mean, you’re close to death, but you still have some fight in you. And this ain’t the spirit world…”_

_Feeling herself float in the dark abyss, Asami looked around, realizing she knew the voice._

_“What, who the-?”_

_“Come on Mrs. Sato, you mean to tell me that you forgot about little ol’ me? I feel rather insulted...”_

_With those words said, six glowing red eyes formed up in front of Asami, yet unlike the malicious, evil eyes of Sha-Garou’s, these eyes looked more mysterious, tipped, femmine, almost playful…_

_“Khu-Shui!” The girl said in realization._

_“There we go! Was worried you might have hit your head a little too hard when you slipped on your blood.”_

_“No, no, I know what you want!” Asami yelled out, knowing fully well from past experiences what this meant._

_“Oh, tell me, does it involve a nice relaxing day on Ember Island?”_

_“NO! You want my body, take control of it at the cost of me wanting revenge!”_

_Those six eyes just looked at her curiously, swirling around her._

_“... Is that a package deal?”_

_“LEAVE ME ALONE! Just let me die! PLEASE!” Asami closed her eyes tightly, not wanting any part in this._

_“Asami Sato… I’m not here for your body…” Khu-Shui’s voice, for a brief moment, lacked none of it’s usual charm, not that Asami noticed as she turned away_

_“YOU LIE!”_

_“I’m sorry, did I just go up to you and say ‘Hey, red lips, give me a free joyride in your body, you can kill your wife, who just so happened to murdered your friends thanks to some evil asshole spirit?’, well did I?”_

_Hearing that response, Asami opened her eyes, suddenly seeing Khu-Shui’s in the direction she was looking at, now below her._

_“... no, I did not.” With that said, suddenly the black void around Asami vanished and she was now kneeling in the halls of a hospital._

_“What? Where are we?” Asami asked as she got up before noticing Khu-Shui’s humanish looking form next to her now with just two glowing red eyes, the shadows seeming to form and swirl off of her like smoke._

_“Look around…” The girl looked and realized she was back in the hospital in Zaofu before noticing through a window herself sleeping in the room she stayed in after the attack._

_“That’s me… wait…”_

_“This is two days ago, a week after you lost Yasuko, you and Korra…” The shadow spirit’s voice said in an unusually calm, yet regretful tone, pointing out Korra in her seat…_

_And she was looking at those six evil red eyes._

_Asami knew what was happening. “This is when Sha-Garou got to her.” She then ran up to the window and began banging her hands on it, yelling at the Korra on the other side, who was focused on what false words Sha-Garou gave her. “KORRA! STOP! STOP IT! HE’S LYING TO YOU! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!”_

_Khu-Shui rolled her eyes. “She can’t hear you, this is me giving you a glimpse into the past.” She mentioned, slightly annoyed at this as the green eyed girl stopped. “But yes, you are correct, he lied to her, offering her his power to get back at Guan for the miscarriage. Took advantage of another poor soul at their lowest point.” The spirit said, having seen it all before. “Easiest fucking trick in the shadow spirit handbook.” She muttered that last part in disgust._

_The shadow spirit then snapped her form's fingers, changing the scene to when Korra, now a shadowbender, got her hands on Guan in the interrogation room, Asami covering her mouth as she witnessed what her wife violently did to the madman as Suyin and Kuvira tried to break through._

_“She wanted Guan to know her pain-” Khu-Shui said before Guan’s dying scream interrupted what she wanted to say, looking to see Korra holding the bloody ripped out heart of his._

_“You think he got the message?”_

_All Asami could do was watch in shock as her wife walked out of the room as Suyin and Kuvira watched her in silence before trying to stop and arrest her, seeing the two rush by her like she wasn’t there._

_“Hope you’re not too squeamish.” Asami heard the spirit warn her before Suyin stepped in front of the shadowbender to block her before suddenly seeing part of her metal necklace come off in front of her and go right across her throat, realizing too late her throat had been cut open, gasping at the wound as Korra stood there, her face unmoving as she held her hand up, having just used metalbending to do the deed._

_“SUYIN!” Kuvira cried out as the Beifong woman dropped dead before suddenly seeing Korra, now Dark Korra, come right at her, a shadow claw thrust right into her stomach, coughing up some blood before she slowly turned to look at the shadowbending Avatar, who held the wounded woman in her hands._

_“Because you didn’t kill that brainwashing piece of shit when you had the chance, my baby is dead." Dark Korra hissed in her ear, a look of hate in her red eyes. "_ _Some godmother you are.”_

_Before Kuvira could give some form of retort, Dark Korra moved the sharp claw around in her body, making the woman scream in bloody pain as the shadowbender made sure her death would be slow and painful, so she can reflect on her mistake before dropping her harshly onto the ground and disappearing in a nearby shadow._

_Asami and Khu-Shui watched in silence the metalbender struggle on the ground, holding her wound as she tried crawling over to a nearby phone to warn everyone about what happened to Korra._

_Then, the two were back in the void of darkness._

_“How could this happen, how could Sha-Garou do this to Korra, shouldn’t Raava been able to ward off his corruption?” Asami asked, trying to get a grasp of how this was possible._

_Khu-Shui sighed, trying to find a reasonable excuse. “I don’t know how he managed it, but the amount of power he held, somehow it was enough to seemingly lock away Raava, something which even Vaatu wasn’t able to do. But with her out of the way, Sha-Garou has an easier time influencing Korra’s choices…”_

_With that, the shadow spirit gave a deep breath, looking back at Asami._

_“Asami, the offer I’m giving you is not one where you’d take revenge, nor do I want control of your body, I don’t care about any of that…” Khu-Shui’s voice once more was that of concern, condolences, regret. But unlike that of Sha-Garou’s, this was genuine. “I’ve been in the spirit world far too long, having to know Sha-Garou’s poison roams in the universe, corrupting anyone who accepts his deal. But as it turns out…”_

_With the raise of her shadowy hand, multiple spheres formed around the two, all showing a familiar event the girl had been there to witness, Korra energybending Sha-Garou out of Hattori Hanzo. “... this ain’t the only universe that has been tainted by his evil.”_

_Asami looked at the spheres, all playing the same scene, but each had their own differences. “What you are looking at is different universes all throughout what is known as a multiverse, made up of different realities.”_

_“I know this, where each universe is different from the other in their own ways, thanks to certain events playing out.”_

_“Good to know your reputation doesn’t fail you.” The shadow spirit noted before holding one sphere in hand. “What connects all these universes, at least in the past, is this event. Your wife, or fiancé at the time, energybending Sha-Garou out of your ol’ one eyed friend. Notice anything off?”_

_Watching the event play out, something did get her attention, seeing a now metalbender Hattori Hanzo fight back against him and the ‘death’ of the spirit. “Wait, no! That can’t be, Hattori died during the energybending process and Korra had to become Sha-Garou’s host to stop him for the time being!” She pointed out, looking at the shadow spirit in surprise._

_“In your universe, yes.” Khu-Shui agreed. “However, yours is unique among the others as in all the other universes…"_

_The shadow spirit then grabbed another universe sphere, putting the two next to each other for those green eyes to see._

_“Either Mr. Hanzo dies saving his sister…” She began, the first sphere she grabbed showing Hattori pushing Lin out of the way of the broken lamp, getting the piece of metal to the back which was what killed him…_

_… yet the other one showed a similar event, but both him and Lin looked more like how it was during the hundred year war judging by the clothes and the city street. But the biggest change was the falling piece of metal only scratched Hattori, sparing him as he shrugged off the minor wound._

_“Or he survives.”_

_Khu-Shui put both spheres back, looking all over at them as Asami watched. “Now, you may get the odd one out here or there, like Lin is the one who pushes Hattori out of the way and dies, genders being switched up, I think one of them is a lizard person universe. If I remember right, the only difference in another universe is that rice smiles like sunflowers, that’s a weird one…”_

_Then Khu-Shui turned back to the amazed Asami. “But for the most part, those are the two same outcomes of the situation… except in your universe. Hattori Hanzo died when Sha-Garou was ripped out of him and Korra became his new host, not why would that be?”_

_The engineer tried to put her answer in words, but nothing seemed to make sense._

_"I… maybe, something from… another universe… affected it, like…”_

_“Getting warmer…”_

_She looked up at the other universe spheres, seeing it all play out again, they all seemed to be the same, except for that one from her universe. After some quick thinking, Asami Sato had the answer as her eyes went wide._

_“My universe wasn’t meant to be.”_

_“Correct. A different universe, one not intended to be whole, formed from that first one I showed you, with that bastard shadow spirit in this universe knowing what was happening to him from the universe that spawned ours. The prime universe.” Khu-Shui pointed out as she saw the girl look confused at the choice of name. “Oh, come on “Miss Smarty Pants”, think of it like math, trying to find the prime number.”_

_Khu-Shui then looked back at the spheres, not wanting to look at Asami as she knew she had to lie here. “Somehow, Sha-Garou found out about the other universes and is now using your lover as his personal vessel. He’s planning to have her energybend all the different her’s in the universes. As for what, I got no idea.”_

_The spirit once more turned around to look at Asami, who now noticed that sphere where things were still like how things were in the hundred year war, only now Dark Korra was in it, her hand glowing red as she pressed it against the head of the Korra of it’s universe, draining her of her energy and killing her, watching in horror at the murder._

_“Asami, Korra has to be stopped, Sha-Garou has to be stopped, before both become too powerful…” Khu-Shui’s voice began sounding like it was pleading, which caught Asami off guard. “There has to be a way to stop them, something, somewhere in one of these universes. But in order to find it, you need to get that piece of the Uchū Crystal still in your office, the one you kept hidden from any intruders, the one not even Korra knew about.”_

_“What am I supposed to do with that?” Asami asked, not knowing what to do with it._

_“You know how it can transport matter from one spot to another within a set space?” That got a nod from the non-bender. “It’s more powerful than you realize, through proper preparation, like putting it in something you can hold onto, you can travel throughout these different universes. No idea if you’ll land in the same ones they been to, or if you do, at the same time as them, but you can try getting help from those who were attacked or not. Maybe even prevent Korra and Sha-Garou from killing another Avatar.”_

_“I-I-I mean, it’s possible, I could try, but…” The Sato woman knew that it’d be possible if she wasn’t..._

_“You’re close to death, I know…” The shadow spirit noted, seeing that Asami knew where this was going. “Without me, you will die. You need to be my host, become a shadowbender yourself to survive your otherwise fatal injury and get a chance to make things right. You may no longer have your friends to be at your side, but you can get the help of others you meet, including those from the Prime Universe, even Avatar Korra Prime herself.”_

_Asami listened to every word of the female shadow spirit, she had doubted her before, but Khu-Shui sounded like she actually cared about the universe. But would she really be willing to become a shadowbender to stop her wife, who already looked like she had the hang of things, on top of being the Avatar? All she was just a pretty and smart non-bender, that’s it._

_“Asami, time is running out, you need to make your choice…” Khu-Shui said, her tone of voice sounding so worried. “Please, I’m…” The human could sense the attempted restraint in the spirit’s voice, as if she wasn’t used to this, seeing those red eyes look into her as they almost looked like they were about to tear up, her hands of shadows reaching out and holding Asami by the arms._

_“I’M BEGGING YOU, don’t let other universes suffer by their hands, don't let the deaths of all your friends be in vain! Free your wife from her suffering, his influence and end Sha-Garou’s madness once and for all, PLEASE!”_

_The human closed her eyes, trying to think of an answer, anything…_

_Then a memory fell into her mind, after both she and Korra decided to name their unborn daughter Yasuko, the both of them began painting the walls of what would have been the baby’s room, with the Avatar painting a butterfly onto the wall, one of two colors, red and blue, their colors._

_The engineer was about to jokingly mock her wives limited art abilities, yet… it looked beautiful the way it was, because Korra made it for Yasuko, it was so perfect._

_Asami Sato’s body laid on the ground of her lab, on top of the puddle of her blood, surrounded by all the corpses in the room, her eyes closed as her heart was slowly beating it’s last beats._

_She had finally made her choice in her mind._

_“Khu-Shui, I accept.”_

_With a deep breath as she rose up with new life, Asami Sato arose, breathing hard as she opened her eyes, now turning from her light emerald green to glowing blood red._

* * *

Sami rose up from the bed in the guestroom she was in, the one of many over on the island, the oversized, yet fitting pajamas she borrowed from Korra sticking to her body with sweat, her eyes looking around, realizing what she had dreamt.

The clock next to her on the nightstand rang out, making the shadowbender look at it and see the time.

“Ten o’clock? I slept in?!” She said to herself as she turned it off.

“ _Korra and Asami tried waking you up earlier, but you wanted to sleep in…_ ” Khu-Shui’s voice said in her mind as she put the object down and moved herself off the bed. “ _Trust me, you really needed it, slept like a rock… and you seemed to have been focused on that dream of yours._ ”

“Right…. My dream.” Sami said as she looked up at the ray of light coming from the window.

“ _Hey, don’t worry child, we’ll save her._ ”

“I know Khu-Shui… I know…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY! TWENTY CHAPTERS!... Well, techically 21 cause of the first one with the "Trailer", but hush up. XD But yes, we're still rolling with getting more backstory as the characters have to do SOMETHING during the week before the final battle. And while it wasn't planned, this chapter had sort of a "Tales of Ba Sing Se" theme to it, three stories with the main characters focused being women who were/was mothers and all confronting stuff in the past in some fashion. Hatori singing a song for her dead family and talking things over with Cobblestone-Verse Yasuko, being like a mother again. Then there's One Arm Kya not just reuniting and informing her old lover Reiko about what happened to their daughter Korra, but also finally burying the hatchet with the now grown up man from her past who she accidently crippled. Lastly is Sami with her dream of how Khu-Shui came to her after Dark Korra escaped with the crystal and killed all their friends and allies and became a shadowbender, along with the reveal that yes, as seemingly implied eariler in the fic, Dark Korra and Sami's universe was never meant to be.
> 
> And just to clear things up, One Arm Kya going to her universe with Kya and Lin takes place AFTER Sami woke up from her dream, bit out of Chronological order, but... yeah. XD Still, each was emotional in their own ways, but so fun to write. Like Hatori singing a lyrically altered version of "Lum's Ballad" from "Urusei Yatsura: Only You" for the deceased, One Arm Kya finally able to forgive herself when talking to Buro, whose life turned out better than she expected. But my personal favorite scene was the dream of Khu-Shui coming to Sami as she was dying and showed her what has happened and the deal for her to become a shadowbender. It's the first time you see a shadow approach someone to become a shadowbender and the scene was just too perfect to not waste. OH and yes, that line Makoto said about the sugar is a direct reference to the 2002 "Spider-Man" film, no regrets.
> 
> Till next chapter next week, hope you all enjoyed this one!


	22. Chapter Twnety One- Another Day on The Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning ahead of time due to some references to Instilled homophobia and child abuse. So just a heads up. Be sure to give it a review, give kudos and bookmark!

Sami slowly waltzed into the kitchen, looking to pour herself a cup of coffee. The rest of the guests who were staying for the time being were outside enjoying the sun but she wasn't ready to go interact with anyone yet.

Well, there was One-Arm Kya asking about borrowing her glove with the Uchū crystal for some personal matter, but Sami wasn’t in the mood to argue, so she let her borrow it for the time being, making her promise not to break it.

Sami leaned back against the counter, holding the cup in her hands and smelling the coffee vapors for a few moments. 

Everything was nearly over. Soon, the universes would either be doomed or saved. 

Not long now and her Korra would either be dead or alive.

She herself may either be dead or alive.

She took a slow sip of the coffee. Its bitterness breathed life into her, but her head still throbbed. She felt weak, despite all the sleep she had gotten.

In her state, she could feel Khu-Shui stepping forward, maybe just to keep her from falling over if anything. She shut her eyes, and she lost track of time. 

When she opened them again, she was somewhere completely different. 

She blinked twice. She wanted to regain her senses but she couldn't. She wasn't in control of her body anymore, but she was conscious, and took in her surroundings. This was new.

The creatures around them, the lush flora... they were nowhere other than the spirit world. She looked down. A blue silhouette of a spirit was coming up to them. 

" _Child..._ " Khu-Shui spoke through her body. " _It's you again.... Maybe? You the one from that universe with the One-Arm Kya? Or are you from this one?_ ” Admittingly, the shadow spirit wasn’t sure since she knew the Tenzin from Hattori and One-Arm Kya’s universe came here with his own family. “ _Listen to me, all knowing shadow spirit with a hive mind all over the universes and even I’m starting to lose track._ "

Jinora approached the spirit, despite Sami's body now having red and yellow eyes and dripped with thick shadow. The young girl wasn't afraid of her, giving a small giggle. 

"The first one, I wanted to see you again." Jinora said. She walked through the lush field and Khu-Shui followed her. "It's about Sha-Garou."

The shadow spirit smirked. "Ah, y _ou shouldn't worry yourself, squirt. Ain't nothing we can't handle._ "

"But you're worried, aren't you?" 

Khu-Shui stopped walking for a moment. She looked down at the little blue spirit, meeting Jinora's eyes. Sami could hear all this, and she realized Jinora was sensing something in Khu-Shui that the shadow spirit hadn't let on before. 

" _Come on, no..._ " she answered. " _I am not worried. I know we will succeed and win. No matter how powerful Sha-Garou is, we have greater numbers on our side._ "

Jinora didn't say anything. She let the shadow spirit's words hang in the air and now even Sami could sense the doubt in her voice. She hadn't noticed it before, but now she realized. Khu-Shui wasn't sure whether he could be defeated.

The silence unveiled what the shadow spirit was truly thinking. " _We need to win this. The universe’s are at stake._ " she said. " _I know that otherwise, Sha-Garou will just find a way to escape. Even if we do try to put him away for good._ " The dejection in her voice was showing now. 

Sami could feel her heart drop. Khu-Shui may have never been confident in their abilities to destroy the evil shadow spirit. She may have just been hiding it so no one else would panic.

In fact, at that moment, Sami saw in Khu-Shui the frightened young shadow spirit who had watched in horror as her kind slaughtered an entire race of bright spirits.

Jinora thought for a moment, seemingly regarding the spirit before she carried on walking. They traipsed through the fields until they reached the thick foliage that Khu-Shui recognized. She knew these trees all too well but she didn't question why the child was bringing her to her home. 

"I have been away in the spirit world a lot." Jinora said. "I was trying to see if I could find something that would help but I couldn't." She sighed, sitting against the cobblestone ruins of the temple. "Everytime I tried searching, it was like I could sense what I needed to find, but every time I got closer, it got further into the darkness. Like what I was looking for was long gone."

Khu-Shui was surprised. It was almost like the child had been able to sense the long forgotten existence of the bright spirits, before they were all wiped out. 

" _Don't be too hard on yourself, kid._ " She wandered around her home. The familiarity of it made her feel better. " _What you're looking for did in fact disappear many years ago. You will never find it._ "

"Many times I feel like it's coming from this temple." she said. 

Khu-Shui chuckled. " _Yes. This temple used to be home to the bright spirits that you seek, before they all died. Perhaps some insignificant part of them remains on these walls, never noticed it myself personally since I made residence here._ "

Jinora stared at the ground. She was obviously unhappy with that explanation but she wasn't questioning the ancient spirit.

As Khu-Shui wandered through her home, Sami could feel the air around them become unstable. Something was happening and she could feel the shadow spirit fall back into her own thoughts. She looked back at Jinora. The young girl had her eyes closed, meditating, and Khu-Shui seemed preoccupied with something of her own. For the first time since they got here, she felt in control of her body, but as she looked down at herself, she wasn't in it. 

Her hands were see-through, and the grey cobblestone was visible through her palms. She looked behind her. Khu-Shui still had her body, walking through the shadows as she pondered. 

Had she left her body? Was she a spirit? 

Too many questions ran through her mind, but before she could panic, she heard a tiny voice call out to her. She looked around desperately. She had heard it once before and she immediately recognized it. 

The small voice was coming from the trees and without thinking she went running after it. She heard rustling and she followed it, dashing and ducking under the branches of the low hanging trees. 

She came to a clearing, and the light rays spilled in from above, lighting up the field of flowers and tiny floating spirits. In the center of it all was a young girl, and when she heard Sami approach she turned. Her bright face and joyful eyes lit up when she saw her. 

Sami held her breath. "Yasuko?" she whispered, her voice barely audible even to herself. 

The child, looking so close to the adopted daughter from another universe, stood and watched her for a moment, before running towards her with her arms out giving the biggest smile she could. In her state of shock, she heard the toddler yell out for her, only one word.

" _MOMMY!_ "

But as soon as she bent down to pick her up, she was gone. 

Sami froze. 

She stared at the empty ground. 

The flowers were gone, the spirits were gone, and worst of all, Yasuko was gone too. Everything had vanished. It had all been in her head. 

She gulped and wiped away a tear from her cheek. 

At that moment, she could only think of one thing. 

Sha-Garou had to be stopped. Just as Guan had taken Yasuko away from her, Sha-Garou had taken so many Korra’s away from their universes. Sami was filled with rage and her spirit form almost couldn't handle the intense emotion. She turned back and found her way back to her body, feeling horrible for feeling so. 

Jinora could sense the same energy again. Something in the spirit world was answering her calls. There was something out there that could help them, a tiny aura that was responding to her endless questioning. Her meditation was working, it was getting her an answer, but she could never find it. 

She opened her eyes. Sami and Khu-Shui were gone. She hadn't paid attention, and the shadow-spirit had probably gone deep into the shadows of the temple where she couldn't see them. She sighed as she stood up. 

The energy she sensed wasn't strong. It was incredibly weak. Something old, ancient, but weakened like it was just sprouting. 

She wandered around the temple, trying to understand where it was coming from. She followed it around blindly with her eyes shut, trying to focus. 

She followed it to the end. She opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything. Everything around her was dark and she realized she had wandered into a dark corner of the temple. Losing her concentration, she lost track of the energy she was following and started to panic, realizing she lost her way completely.

" _Are you lost, Jinora?_ " Khu-Shui's voice almost made her jump. She must have come out of the shadows, a kind smile on her face. " _Come on, let's get you out of here. Don't want daddy to get pissed._ "

Jinora felt her hand on her shoulder as she led her out of the temple. Being back out in the light made her feel better, but she couldn't stop thinking about how she nearly found what she was sensing back there. But the shadows had been too thick for her to see it. 

Yet, now that she noticed it, it was almost like the energy was now following her, unseen, but close, just waiting to be found.

* * *

“All right gentlemen, in five days and 15 hours, we will be going to war.” Meelo said, his voice full of vigor as he paced back and forth in his room, his arm in a small sling, even knowing his grandmother did everything she could to heal the broken bone in his lower arm.

If anything, the sling was there to remind himself to not charge straight into battle without a plan, which the youngest of three was laying out.

“Now, being the nephew of the greatest commander in all of the United Forces, I’m sure I will lead all of you into battle and we can achieve victory against this Sha-Gartu, Sha-Gari…” The young airbender felt his speech fault at just forgetting how to say the evil shadow spirit’s name, looking to the side. “Speech writer, what was the name?”

Poki looked up from the fruit pie he stole from Pema’s kitchen to look at his owner, only giving a head tilt until he went back to feasting on the food.

“Right, Sha-Garou!” Meelo said out loud, turning back to look at those he was speaking to. “Now, your brave and handsome commander may have fallen in battle against him when he was fighting that evil version of Korra, even dinged up my arm, but it showed me I couldn’t just rush into battle, not without a plan.”

Then raising up a rather detailed and drawn out layout of a plan, the ten year old smiling at his work. “Spent last night drawing and planning this up…” He noted, pointing at the drawing of a dragon with both him and Poki drawn riding on the back of it, a female figure resembling Asami holding onto the drawn him.

“What the enemy doesn’t know is that we got ourselves a dragon, maybe even more if Lord Zuko lets us borrow his when he arrives, whenever he does.”

His finger then pointed at the dragon’s mouth, showing it was breathing fire. “That said, we’re going to ask the lovely braided Thuy to borrow her black dragon, who I gave the nickname “Blackfire”...”

Then Meelo then smirked as he moved his pointed finger at where the fire was landing, around a rather cartoony looking Sha-Garou, which was really just a crude looking drawing of Korra with red eyes and sharp teeth. “Then we’ll have her roast Sha-Garou alive, ending his evil once and for all!”

Rolling up the layout of the plans, the airbender closed his eyes, hands to his chest. “Yes, that pretty shadowbending Asami may be sad to see her dead Korra dead, but who knows, maybe she’ll come crying into my arms as the universes are saved!” He then gave a smile, looking at those listening. “Any questions, men?”

As it turns out, the various ring tailed winged lemurs he trained weren’t listening, just minding their own business as Naga, Pabu, Fumi and Toshi, with the small wolfcat and fire ferret on top of the polar bear dog’s back, the three just looking at him curiously, Pabu making a quaint sound.

“No one has any questions?” The way Fumi’s face always was did not make things easy. Not even a mew from the cat owl.

Then the human companion version of the Wolfcat, who too was sitting next to the human Naga, raised her hand, sharing the same look at her animal self as Meelo noticed.

“Yes, Human Fumi.”

Human Fumi sighed. “What if either Thuy or Zuko, or both, say no to borrowing their dragons?” She asked, her voice sounding oddly like Eska’s, if just with more volume and emotion to it.

“Say what?” Meelo asked, not expecting that as Human Naga held her finger up too, while she let the cat owl sit on her shoulder.

“And if you were to get one of the dragons, why would Miss Sami come to you for moral support?” The white haired human asked, which her and Fumi talking caught both Korra and Asami off guard when they heard these versions of their pets speak for the first time. “Seeing as in your plan, you’d be the one killing her Korra in the process of killing Sha-Garou.”

That made the airbender try to back peddle a bit. “I mean, maybe not at-”

“It is clear that Sami still loves her Korra, so the grieving process would be quite extended.” Fumi interrupted as her fellow human companion nodded, pointing out one notable detail.

“Plus, aren’t you way too young for her?”

“Okay, I get it!” Meelo let out, trying to get them to put an end to that topic. “But otherwise, still a good plan, yes?”

Both human companions and the animals just stared at him in silence, which the blue eyed boy sighed at, knowing he wasn’t getting the answer he wanted to hear.

“You’re all dismissed…”

With that, all the animals, along with Human Naga and Fumi left the room, leaving Meelo to just stand there alone in his room, looking at what he planned out in hand.

“Dang it!”

In a fit, the boy ripped up his plans and threw the pieces on the ground, looking at them before trying to use his airbending to make up a small gust of wind to blow the pieces of paper away into a trashcan.

But his bad arm ached as he raised up his hands, grunting in pain as he held the arm, muttering some words to himself he heard Toph say as he sat down on his bed, looking down.

“Hey, Meelo!” The boy’s uncle called out to him as Bumi poked his head through the entry way into the room. “Just saw the animals and human versions of animals rush out of your room!” 

Entering, the retired commander gave his nephew a smile. “Must have been a one heck of a speechh…” His voice began to trail off, having noticed the shredded paper on the ground, noticing what had been drawn on them before seeing Meelo wasn’t looking up at him. “Meelo?”

Sensing something was wrong, Bumi sat next to the kid. “What’s wrong?”

“What am I doing?” Was all Meelo asked, his voice unusually low and rather unlike him. “What am I doing wrong?”

“What do you mean little man? I’m not following you.”

The ten year old looked up at his uncle. “All of what’s happening, with that Dark Korra, Sha-Garou, this universe war thing, whatever, it’s… been making me think stuff.”

“Like what?” Bumi asked, seeing a slight wetness form in the child’s eyes.

“About how useless I am.”

“Seriously? You, Meelo, future airbender master and commander of the United Forces, no you’re not!” The older man said, trying to cheer up the favorite of his brother’s kids.

Yet all hearing that made the boy feel angry. “YES I AM! I’M USELESS!”

Bumi wasn’t ready to hear those words come out of the rather hyper boy who shook his head, looking down at the torn paper on the ground.

“I’m not as in-tune with the spirits or a master airbender like Jinora, I’m not as smart and all knowing as Ikki! Rohan, okay, maybe I got an advantage over, but he's only four.” Meelo ranted, standing up, looking down at the arm. “I’m not even an amazing airbender! And when I went against that Evil Korra, look at what happened!” The child pointed out, lifting up his sling.

“Hey, that’s not true! None of that means you’re useless!” Bumi tried assuring his nephew. “You know your way with animals and can easily train them, you’re a great artist, you made up your own form of airbending-”

“OH, so teaching some lemurs how to march, drawing up some pictures AND _fartbending_ is useful?” Meelo called out, having to look away from his uncle, just so he didn’t see him beginning to cry.

“I feel useless because everyone sees me as useless. To them, I’m just the annoying one… I don’t belong here, in this family, no one wants me around.”

Not long after those words of distress left his words, he felt something on his good shoulder, turning to see Bumi look into his eyes, a look of caring in his eyes.

“Meelo, you do belong with us, we do want you around.” The older man said, a sense of assurance in his voice. “You are much more special than you give yourself credit for. Yes, you have your own way of doing things, but that’s what makes you special.”

Meelo was about to make a retort when he saw his fearless uncle turn to the side, closing his eyes. “I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t belong.”

“In the United Forces?” The boy asked to which got a suddenly laugh out of his uncle.“

"OH NO, trust me, I certainly belonged there alright, but that’s not what I meant.” The older airbender assured before feeling his own negative feelings of the past come back to mind. “For the longest time, I felt like the odd one out between me, Tenzin and Kya. We were the children of the Avatar and the greatest waterbending master, we had a lot to live up to. But here’s the thing, your father was the first new Airbender born after the Hundred Year War, he would become the leader of a new order of airbenders, starting with you kids, then all those thanks to Harmonic Convergence, including me.”

The Uncle then shrugged. “Your aunt, wherever she went with Lin and that more moody one armed version of herself, she’d grow up to become a damn powerful waterbender and healer, second only to your grandmother! She’s also wise, knows her way around energies and all that earth talk and is one of the friendliest people you’d ever meet, when she’s not picking on your dad.”`

Bumi then looked into Meelo’s eyes. “Then there was me, the first born child, and for the longest time, the only non-bender of a family full of great bender. And growing up, I did feel like the odd one out.”

“But, there’s all the great stories of you in battle, saving the day, fighting alongside Iroh!” Meelo pointed out as the commander gave a relaxed smile.

“That’s all true, stuff we got into, stuff I got into with his mom..." Bumi's mind began to drift off towards past teen memories with Izumi before getting back to topic. And I did become friendly with the spirits, like Bum-Ju, speaking of which, where is he?” He asked, looking around before looking back at the ten year old. “But like I said, I felt like for the longest time I didn’t belong in our family, that I never lived up to my father’s legacy. Heck, I didn’t even feel like I was worthy of being an airbender when I first became one…”

A small hitch of the voice came up from Bumi’s throat, catching the kid by surprise seeing his uncle like that before seeing him smile. “But our family, they are proud of me, telling me that YES, I do belong with them, as myself and as an airbender, that your grandfather always loved me, even when I wasn’t a bender, even if he did gravatate towards your dad more. But even with my quirks, they all still valued what I offered.”

He then poked Meelo in the chest. “And your family loves you just as much, not just because of what you bring to the table in all your wonderful Meelo-ness, but because you’re their son and brother. And my nephew, along with Kya's naturally.”

Hearing all of that seemed to have raised Meelo’s spirits, until that thought of having his arm broken by Dark Korra came back to mind.

“But… I’m still not a good airbender, my father-”

“Yes you are.”

The two heard Tenzin’s voice speak from the side, turning to look at the master airbender standing in the doorway, having heard everything Bumi was trying to say and what his son still thought of himself. “You are a great airbender, more than you realize.”

“But, dad…” Meelo said, not caring that his father was seeing him begin to tear up more. “I failed to protect you guys, I got my butt whooped by that evil Korra, I… didn’t follow your orders… I’m not like you”

The son then saw his father come up to him and give him a tight hug, being held in his arms.

“You have much to learn, yes, but that doesn’t mean you’re still not learning.” Tenzin said, moving his kid back to look at him. “Trust me, I rushed in without even thinking after she hurt you, wanting to protect you and almost getting myself killed. I’m still learning myself.”

He then remembered an important moment in his life. “Years ago, when me, your uncle and aunt were trying to look for Jinora’s spirit in the spirit world, we ended up getting separated in the Fog of Lost Souls. There, I saw your grandfather and I told him that I felt like a failure for so many reasons, including that I wasn’t him. You want to know what he told me?” Meelo nodded, curious.

“He told me that I shouldn’t try to be like him, to put all this pressure onto me and just be myself. And I am telling you to be yourself, that’s what makes you a great airbender. While learning our teachings is important, being yourself is the biggest lesson of them all.”

At that, the bearded man had to chuckle at himself. “Remember when Kuvira attacked Republic City with her giant machine?”

“That and I also remember that she’s here now helping us out.” Meelo pointed out, which Tenzin had to nod along with, still getting used to that fact.

“Yes, see where you're coming from, but she’s been slowly getting back on everyone’s good graces. But, I remember when she shot the spirit cannon at you, me and your sisters that while Ikki saved Jinora, YOU were the one who saved me, a freakin’ Airbending master!”

Bumi was amazed hearing that. “Woah…” He said, kneeling next to Meelo, yet kept his eyes on Tenzin. “That is literally the harshest swear word I’ve heard you say in my entire life.”

“Lin can argue otherwise…” Tenzin muttered to himself to both’s confusion before shaking it off. “Believe me, you are a better airbender than you think and a better son than you realize.” He then gave a smile. “Maybe you can do without the fartbending as much, but a better airbender regardless.”

“Hey, I’ve not done that in a year!” Meelo called out before seeing the deadpan looks from both his father and uncle, looking away a slight bit. “... okay, a few months, but still!”

Yet after that, the boy did smile. “But… maybe you both are right.”

“Of course we are, we’re your favorites!... Well, I’m most certainly your favorite compared to your dad.” Bumi assured with a smirk as Tenzin just looked at him.

“Bumi, seriously?”

That made his older brother laugh. “Right, sorry, serious moment.” Bumi then stood up. “Now come on future commander, maybe uncle Bumi can take you out to the city for some ice cream. Even with the end of the world looming it's ugly face, Baki's still open.”

“Oh boy!” That perked up the boy as they began to leave when…

“Hey…”

Both turned to see Tenzin looking at them. “He can leave the island with you only if I come.”

Bumi had to snicker hearing that. “Because you want a waffle cone?” He teased his little brother who simply walked past him before holding his hand up, causing the air beneath the retired man’s feet to lift him slightly up in the air before making him drop him to the ground on his rear.

“Yes, yes I do.” The airbending master said with a slight smirk, knowing he had one advantage over his brother, being the better airbender as Meelo laughed at the sight before following his father, his uncle trying to rush after them, saying he’d get back at Tenzin for that.

* * *

As the three airbenders flew into the city, the ferry was sailing towards the island, with Korra, Asami and Sami on board, ready to regroup with the others so they could lay out some form of plan.

As they rode on the ship, sitting on a crate, both Korra and Asami spotted Sami leaning on the railing alone, seeming to want some separation from the two.

“She’s been so distant since she woke up.” Korra noted, seeing how distant the shadowbender’s eyes were, looking at the distance.

Asami looked at her other self, having a feeling. “Considering what we have to do to save her Korra, it’s obvious it’s eating her up.” 

Korra nodded. “Think we should do something for her?” She tried thinking of something. “Maybe tonight we can take her out into the city, try to maybe get her to relax a bit?”

“It’s not a bad idea, but will she even say yes?” Asami asked, looking at her fiancé. “She’s been through so much pain, stuff neither of us has thought could even happen. All her friends dying at the hands of her you after she became the puppet of some evil spirit… losing a life growing inside her.”

Knowing that last one still made the raven haired beauty feel the most terrible for her other self.

“And that’s not even counting everything she’s had to endure since she and Khu-Shui have been universe hopping.”

Taking it all in, Korra had a small thought go through her head, what with everything going on, with what’s coming, who even knows if they’ll all survive, all before the big wonderful wedding she had been dreaming of since she had made up the engagement ring for Asami.

It began giving her an idea, but…

“Korra? Hey, Korra!”

Asami’s voice snapped her out of what was going through her head.

“What were you thinking?”

“Ahh…” No, Korra couldn’t act on it, couldn’t say what she was thinking, but certainly made sure to keep it in mind... “I know something that may get Sami’s attention.” She lied, she had no idea, but she had to think of something else. “Hey, Sami!”

Hearing the Avatar call her name did indeed get the Shadowbender’s attention. “Hey, we were thinking…”

That confused Asami. “We were?” That earned her a light little nudge on the side. “Ah, yeah, ah… maybe tonight, we can take you to… go see a mover at a theater?” Asami hoped that idea sounded good.

“A mover? Are theaters still playing those? Considering…” Sami asked, surprised that they’d even be still open knowing that the universes may end in days.

“Yeah yeah, but come on, it’d be fun, something to take your mind off of things, maybe for one night, you can sit down and relax.” Korra explained, putting on her goofy smile and cute blue eyes trick. “Come on, for me?”

The shadowbender AND Asami looked at what the Avatar was attempting. “Are you really doing the polar bear puppy eyes trick?” Sami asked.

“Is it working on you?” Korra asked in a cutesy voice.

It had been a long, LONG while since Sami saw that trick used on her by a Korra, let alone her own wife, remembering the Korra she married using them during their honeymoon to get her to try out surfing.

As it turns out, there was yet another thing this Sato girl was not good at, yet seeing her Korra in the swimsuit she bought just for the occasion, playfully laughing as she helped her on her own surfboard and paddled back to land, her light skinned arms around her bronze skinned body…

It only made Sami miss the woman she loved even more, yet...

“Yes it is, I’ll go....” Sami said, having to give a small smile at the gesture. “But you’re paying.”

“Of course.” Korra said with a smile before putting her muscular arms around both Asami’s. “You are our guest in this universe.”

“We promise you’ll have a fun time.” Asami said with her own kind smile, happy to see her alter self agree. “Hopefully Korra doesn’t try sneaking in snacks again.” She brought up as Korra looked at her love as she let go.

“It was one time!”

“Yes, and your coat pockets became full of melted choco candies since you accidentally made your body too warm before we even sat down to watch the mover.”

“It was snowing, I had to get warm!”

“You’re from the South Pole, Republic City snow is nothing compared to over there!”

Sami couldn’t help but laugh at the soon-to-be newlyweds talk about this little funny incident, it too reminded her of the joking arguments she and her Korra used to have.

“ _Not even married and they’re already arguing like a old married couple._ ” Khu-Shui brought up inside Sami’s mind, which yeah, the girl had to agree with the shadow spirit.

* * *

After Thuy and Mako made their way back, it was to be expected that everyone was surprised at the creature that brought them there. The dragon looked fearsome at first, but the gentle way in which it treated Thuy put people at ease about having him there.

Kurohi was also popular with the young children among the island, with the dragon looking to actually enjoy the attention.

Tenzin, having gotten back with Meelo and Bumi, had scrambled to find somewhere on the island where it would be safe to put a dragon, at least away from the sky-bison the giant lizard spotted. After him and Thuy came back round to rejoin the others, his heart sunk as he looked up at the sky. 

"Oh, looks like we have more company." he sighed. 

Everyone's attention was drawn to the sky. A fleet of airships was making its way towards the island and at its front, if they squinted enough, they could just about make out the figure leading them on another winged beast. 

"Is that... our Zuko?" Mako whispered, staring up at the sky in disbelief along with everyone else. 

Sure enough, the ships landed on the edges of the city, and Lord Zuko and the rest of his commanders made their way onto the island. 

Tenzin and Pema rushed to meet their new guests. Joining the ever growing crowd of people was now Zuko, Iroh II and Fire Lord Izumi. 

No one had expected the fire nation to show up so promptly, but perhaps the threat of the end of the universes was enough for them to take action. 

"Sorry for showing up unannounced," Zuko said, walking up to Tenzin and Pema. "But with the urgency of things, we thought it would take too long to send a message first."

"No, no, it's an honor to have you here." Tenzin smiled, remembering the man from his childhood. While he didn't get to see a lot of him growing up, he did remember Zuko as the scary one with the scar, ever since he was a small child.

Now, looking at him since then, Tenzin realized that it wasn't his scar that was the most intimidating, as much as his years of experience. Yet Zuko still carried a sense of respect and kindness he shared with those he cared for, especially his friends and family.

"Please, come and meet the rest of the guests," Pema said, leading the Fire Nation leaders towards the others, while Tenzin found a place for Zuko's dragon to rest. 

Zuko was rather surprised to see the sibling of Druk resting as some of the children marveled at the black dragon, choosing to wait until a proper time to ask how it got here.

Nearby, Hattori looked up from his spot he was relaxing at, only to see this universe's Izumi walking through the crowd of people. "Oh, you've got to be fuckin’ kidding..." he muttered to himself. "Do versions of her have to follow me everywhere? I just got over this!"

"Mr. Beifong, are you ok?" 

He looked down and saw Ikki standing next to him. He hoped she didn't hear what he said. 

"Yeah yeah, all good kid. Run along now."

Ikki tilted her head and frowned. "Did you just call me a kid? I’m 12 years old!" 

Hattori gave an awkward chuckle. "Yeah, still a kid. And take no offence. I call everyone tha-"

Before he could finish, the young girl already dashed away through the crowd. He wanted to let out a sigh of relief before he heard her voice from the crowd. 

"Excuse me, Ms. Fire Lord Izumi?"

Hattori's eyes widened. "Shitshitshit _shit_..." He rushed over to her, but it was too late. 

He watched as the Fire Lord looked down at the child with curious eyes as Ikki continued. 

"Did you know that you're that man's wife?" she pointed over to Hattori. 

Izumi looked up at Hattori and the Chief froze. He started stuttering for an excuse, but before he could think of something, the Fire Lord just laughed. 

"You must mistake me for someone else, Ikki." She said. "You must be looking for someone from a different universe, perhaps." She turned her attention back to Hattori. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

The Chief gulped. "H-Hattori." 

Izumi raised her eyebrows, instantly noticing he looked like someone she saw in the paper months before. "Like Hattori Hanzo, the Equalist Ripper?" 

Hattori couldn't help but facepalm himself, groaning. "It's, err, kind of, ah, it’s... a multiverse thing. Hattori Beifong will do."

She nodded. Looking around the crowd at the various people she recognized but not quite, it was obvious that there were a lot of explanations that she needed, especially considering the fact he claimed to be a Beifong. Instead, she reached out and shook Hattori's hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Heh, yeah, likewise." the Chief stuttered back, thankful that his Izumi stayed in their universe.

He looked down at Ikki, seeing the child poke her tongue out at him before vanishing into the crowd. Hattori almost rolled his eyes. Kids. Thank the spirits Iroh already grew out of that…Maybe? Then there was Mihoshi who even in her mid-30's still was a kid a heart.

His and Izumi's conversation was interrupted by a gasp that ran through the crowd. Everyone's attention was brought to the sky again and he looked up with them. 

"What in the-" he muttered, seeing the strange figures flying towards the island. Seeing the cloaked figures, he was getting some serious flashbacks to a previous universe before it seemed to dawn on him. "No, no, please Agni, no…"

"Well," Zuko chuckled as the figures came into view. "If it isn't her."

The silhouettes became clearer and clearer as they got closer. Sure enough, riding the horde of dragons was the Fire Nun's of the Fire Blossom Society. 

"More dragons?!?" Tenzin cried out before realizing who was leading them in pure horror. “AND IS THAT FUCKING AZULA?!?”

“Oh, wow, that is the first time I heard ANY version of you swear.” Korra made sure to note that little fact as Azula and the others made their landing nearby.

“Hey guys, I was just trying to plan some stuff out with Opal and- OH MY RAAVA!” Bolin let out, seeing the sudden increase of dragons landing on the island and those who had arrived to offer their services to the cause.

Zuko couldn’t help but have a slight knowing smile on his face, seeing his younger sister get off her stead. “It’s been a long time sister.”

“Far too long Zuzu.” Azula rolled her eyes at his voice, looking at her older brother. “Had to step away from your journey’s around the world to join the fight.”

“With the universe's at stake, I had to fight alongside those who protect it, along with my own country and family.”

The Fire Mother gave a small huff. “I see…” She then noticed something. “Where’s Kiyi? Surely she would have been of some use in what’s to come.”

Zuko saw the brief trace of curiosity emulating from his sister. “While not as high in years as the both of us, Kiyi chose to sit out the battle, to stay at her family's side during these times.”

“Understandable, powerful as she is, Kiyi always tried to find the more peaceful route.” Azula brought up, remembering the few times she met her younger half-sister’s husband, multiple children and grandchildren. “Aang’s influence on her still sticks on her today.”

“There’s always other ways to protect your family, not just through violence. And if she is forced into battle, you and I both know she can handle whatever comes her way just fine...”

That last part earned a small, yet smug smirk from the Fire Mother towards her brother. “Of course, I am the one who taught her proper firebending.”

At that, Zuko had to snicker at the remark before seeing the various fire nuns that arrived with Azula, including Ty Lee II. “See you brought not just your fire sisters, but also your own daughter.”

“She takes after her own mother, ready to fight if needed. Though her more… heartfelt moments tend to also come out, no idea where she gets that from.” Azula noted, looking at her daughter giving a respectful bow to Tenzin and Pema, looking to apologize for the sudden increase of winged beasts on their island, seeming to appease the two. “Want to say her aunt, but it’s more than likely her father, wherever he went.”

“Not the only person she reminds me of.” She heard her brother mention, turning to Zuko who seemed to look at her with pity in his eyes.

Azula knew very well who he was talking about, both knowing why he didn’t speak their name. “Have you… gotten any word from… _her?_ ” Just from even saying that last word, Zuko knew this was hard even for his normally blunt sister to talk about, seeming to know of the last time she and the other woman spoke.

"Ever since Suki passed away ten years ago, she had been the one to take charge of the Kyoshi Warriors, making sure they honored the tradition of Kyoshi. Yet even in recent years, she still is the same hyperactive, sweet, kind Ty-” He stopped his words, seeing the gold eyes of Azula look to the side just for a brief moment.

Even in the briefest of moments, time slowed down for Azula.

Knowing she had named her daughter after her former ally, friend, enemy, friend again…

… Her former lover, when actually talking about the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, some bad memories remained from the mere mention of the actual woman herself.

Yet there was the one that was more bittersweet than bad, the first time they spoke to each other two years after their breakup.

“She’s still happy with them… Ty-Lee?” Her voice, no-longer keeping her usual sureness and bravado, instead showed that Azula was indeed a more older, wise, saddened woman who knew she made so many mistakes in the past.

There were a few times, and by a few times, that meant the very rare times Zuko heard his sibling sound so… vulnerable outside of her old bouts of madness. This was one of them. 

“I spoke to her a month ago.”

Azula looked up at her brother who looked over at his niece, who was now with some of the fire nun’s, introducing them to Avatar Korra, Asami and Sami, along with the others, hearing her speak of them being there for the battle ahead.

“Did she… say anything about me?” He heard Azula ask, curiosity in her voice, wanting to hear anything of what she said.

“The topic did come up. The wounds are... still there.” He said, not even needing to see the look on Azula’s face to know it soured hearing those words. “But, she did also ask how you were doing… how your daughter was doing.”

For a moment, Azula swore she was hearing the voices coming back, it had been so long since she heard any mock her…

… yet she realized it wasn’t ones that haunted her past speaking to her…

It sounded like her uncle was speaking through Zuko, hearing his teachings through her brother’s mouth as she looked at her daughter shake Korra’s hand.

* * *

_“Ty-Lee…”_

_53 Years before, on the stretch of land across from the cliff that led to where Kyoshi Island still rested, untouched by all the changes of the world, there Azula stood age 30, in the robes of the Fire Sister she proudly wore._

_Across from her was the woman her age, the years treating her good with her still youthful smile and brown eyes which looked as sweet as the choco chips they’d used to steal from the kitchens when they were only young children._

_But now Ty-Lee stood in the uniform of a Kyoshi Warrior, standing proud as her long brown hair had been tied up in the bun worn by the warriors._

_Yet she did not wear the makeup her fellow members wore at the moment, instead allowing her natural beauty to shine._

_But the looks on either woman’s face told a different story, one of hurt feelings, regret, pain._

_Azula felt the cool fall air blow her hair around, having chosen not to wear her orders hat, wanting her former lover to see her as she was now._

_“Azula…”_

_“It’s been… some time.”_

_“Yes it has. What have you come here for?”_

_Azula heard the question, she knew she’d be asked it and she was ready to answer it…_

_… yet she found herself unsure to answer, but seeing those brown eyes look into her soul, one which she had to rise above the fiery hate her father had planted into her, along with the things she couldn’t blame on him. It made her answer._

_“I know you… don’t want to see me after… two years ago, but…”_

_Azula then felt the small kick in her stomach, something which she had been used to since she found out, feeling where it hit, watching Ty-Lee’s eyes take notice of._

_“You know of how the Fire Blossoms get new children of fire, right?”_

_“Yes. You have carnal relations with whatever male travelers come across the temple. Then you give each one a...” Ty Lee began answering before seeing the silent, yet knowing look on Azula’s face. It was then that the Kyoshi Warrior realized why her old partner brought up that fact._

_“I’m pregnant, Ty Lee.” The former fire nation princess said, looking up into the acrobat’s eyes as she untied part of her loose robe around her stomach, revealing to Ty Lee the small bump on her stomach. “Three months in.”_

_The Kyoshi Warrior looked in surprise, shocked that her friend who had gone through so much, let alone never having the best skills when it came to hooking up with men, was now carrying a child._

_But what surprised her most was the idea that the woman, who for so long had denied her true self, her true feelings about her friend out of fear of how her father would react and was finally allowed to admit them to her once she joined the fire nuns, allowed a man to sleep with her. After everything they had been through._

_“How-”_

_“Could I? How could I allow a man to be in the same bed with me, to do… such acts?” Azula answered, knowing what her former lover was asking. “It was… something I had to get used to thinking of, not just to make sure there were more children of fire, but that the bloodline of my family could continue, alongside those of Zuko and Kiyi’s. It was something I made peace with.”_

_She then covered her stomach back up. “But another contribution to my choice was how things ended between us, I wasn’t sure If I could ever find anyone like you ever again. If our wounds would ever heal.”_

_Azula then stepped forth to Ty Lee, the memories of their big fight coming forth. “After what I did to cause our fight. And yet, there he was, some random traveler who came across our temple. Nothing wrong with him, little bland and spineless, but he just… was there, kindness in his eyes and voice, I sensed his spirit and fire ran through his veins…”_

_The Fire Sister then turned away from the still listening woman, remembering the night in bed she had with him._

_“After that night, I knew what would come from our little activity together, so I promised him that our child would be taken care of, to which he took it in stride, happy to know of what he contributed to and never returned. And then a month ago, I found out I was indeed with not just a child, but a baby girl…”_

_Now Azula felt like how her mother felt when she found out she was pregnant with her, at least before her old self showed. She hoped that when the child was born, she’d not drive her away, like she did to Ursa._

_“I’m happy for you.”_

_Azula turned to see Ty Lee’s face look… rather unsure of how to take this news, was she happy, disappointed, confused? It was hard to tell._

_“You’ve gone through so much, you’ve earned this Azula.” The normally perky woman spoke, trying to make up her mind before finally settling on one of those damn smiles that Azula knew always brought down her armor around her heart. “We may need more time to heal, but I want you to know I am happy for you. And that you will make a wonderful mother.”_

_Hearing all of that, even knowing they may never be together again in each other's arms as they proclaimed their love for each other, it made Azula glad to hear._

_“Thank you Ty-Lee… I shall leave you to your business.” She said, preparing to turn around and leave, headed towards the dragon she flew over on._

_“Hey, Azula!” Ty-Lee’s voice rang out behind her, with Azula turning one last time to look at her, seeing the old hyperactive curiosity back on her face. “What are you going to name your baby girl? I know it’s too early and you may wanna name it some fancy royal fire nation name, especially something with a “Z” in it, but-”_

_“Ty-Lee.”_

_Hearing her own name shut the Kyoshi Warrior up as she felt the air leave her lungs for a split second, seeing a smile on Azula’s face. Not the one of pure malice and evil from their early years, but it was one of sincere kindness and hope._

_But just like the one Azula had when she finally admitted her feelings to Ty Lee, saying that she loved her many years ago._

_“I’m naming her after you. Because you showed me it was okay to be honest with myself after my years of madness.”_

_And with that, Azula turned away, walking away from the cliffs, not seeing or knowing Ty-Lee let two tears from her eyes in shock as she just stood there..._

* * *

"Will she and the Kyoshi Warriors join the battle?" The Fire Mother asked, her voice unsure.

Zuko nodded. "Those who are able bodied, yes. But not Ty Lee I’m afraid. Age has been playing a factor or two these past few years. Not as nimble as she used to be, but that hasn’t stopped her from always talking."

“Right. well, If you ever see her again, maybe after all of this…” Azula said, putting on that classic voice of hers, trying to hide her shame, even if she knew Zuko wouldn’t buy it. “Tell her she’d be proud of Ty-Lee, bound to be Fire Mother herself soon, even I can't keep going on keeping our sisters in check.”

Then she finished what else she had to say in a more hushed tone, giving a glance at her daughter, feeling something towards her she’d rarely show.

“And that after everything that happened, I still love her.”

It made Zuko feel so good to hear her sister, who had long suffered her delusions of grandeur and power, finally see reason and allow some goodness into her heart, even if her behavior at times didn’t show it.

“I will.” He said before holding his hands out for a hug, to which Azula looked at him, eyes furrowed at the gesture.

“Just because we’re on good terms doesn’t mean I’m going to hug you.”

Hug or not, it suited Zuko well enough. “Fair enough. I do have a question…” He then began, turning to where he saw Kurohi with Thuy at her side, spotting her own brother Druk, both silently giving a nod of their heads at acknowledgement as some of the young ones on the island checked both creatures out, hearing Ikki describe details about them. “Care to explain why Kurohi is no longer back at the sanctuary?”

The question got an amused laugh out of the Fire Mother who put her hand on her brother’s shoulder, who noticed that signature smirk of hers as Azula knew more than him.

“Funny story Zuzu, one bloodline recognizing that of another…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so with the end of this chapter is the last one Countconiine co-wrote with me on, it was a fun ride. But partnerships don't always last and she had to deal with her personal life. (DAMN YOU COLLEGE!), though we still keep in contact when we can (And she occasional releases a new chapter of her own fic) and while AvatarPiptook takes over as co-writer starting next chapter (You'll notice the difference, but in a good way), we're still going off the ideas me and Coniine came up with for the rest of the fic, so techically, Coniine still has a hand in the last batch of chapters. Check out her "Avatar Space Fleet" series, it's great! https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883101
> 
> Anywhoseit, just another breather chapter... for the most part. Other than the Khu-Shui and the Alt. Jinora looking at the Bright Spirits old home and Sami having to deal with her own Spirit World adventure, along with Korra and Asami offering to take her to the movers. (GOD, last time I went to the movies was back in October in the one movie theater still open near where I live, saw "Freaky".) XD
> 
> Personally, I've never been the biggest fan of Meelo myself (He's not a bad character, but when you tend to remind me of Beast Boy from TTGO!, there gonna be some issues.), but we had to throw him a bone or two, he needed it after the second chapter. XD Plus, was nice to write a scene of Tenzin and Bumi cheering the kid up. And of course Hattori had to deal with the Prime Izumi (Thanks to Ikki), but thankfully for him, it was brief. Then there's ol' Azula herself reuniting with Zuko and having her own flashback involving... some time after something that happened that caused a fight with Ty Lee and both breaking up, which sucks cause I've been pairing them since ATLA first came out. XD But hey, some feelings still be there!... honestly, no idea what caused them to break up. :Shrugs:
> 
> So until next chapter, the first AvatarPiptook co-wrote which will have it's own BIG moment, hope you enjoyed this one! Slight spoiler, but two more chapters, then the endgame begins. :Shifty eye dog eyes:


	23. Chapter Twenty Two- Moved Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, another breather chapter! No TW's here! WOO! And this is the first one co-written by AvatarPiptook, hope you enjoy her co-writing! Be sure to give kudos, comment and bookmark!

The mover was meant to be a reprise from her thoughts. It was sweet of Korra and Asami to bring her out, and really, she needed the break. The screen went on but she wasn’t focused on it. All the mover presented was time for Sami to think and overthink. Sadly, she knew the stress of the upcoming battle was hanging over their heads.

She sat with her head in her hands as the mover continued to fill the theater with its drama. Korra and Asami had argued, the stress of fighting the shadow spirit was clearly affecting them and their friends weren’t there to pipe in with their thoughts. For now, their quarrel was on pause as the actress on screen was going through some long dramatic line about her lousy day. It was a small victory of the day, but what was making them happy, tugged at her heart. 

Sami was tired of chasing her Korra around. Even with the evil shadow spirit inside of her, she couldn’t wonder but ask how her Korra was so lost, how she became so open for Sha-Garou to prey on her. Why didn't she come to her before she made her choice after everything?

She wanted her wife here now, watching this silly film that she didn’t know the plot of. Even if it was just with their hands together.

‘ _Damn you, Sha-Garou, Guan. Damn you all._ ’ She thought to herself with a sigh.

Night had fallen once the mover was over and the couple were at it again as they left the theater. This time, it began with dinner plans. Korra wanted something simple to eat but neither could make up their mind on where to go. It felt too real, watching them argue. She trailed behind them some, letting them argue. But she knew Korra too well. She was happy to stop by a food stand.

But then the topic switched to something more pressing.

“I want to say that it was foolish to assume you’d have things all picked out, but here I am having to plan everything out for the Avatar! AGAIN!”

“I don’t need your help, I got this! Just because you’re super brainy doesn’t mean you have to insert yourself into what I’m dealing with!”

“OH, says the woman who practically dragged everyone, including all the other universes, into a battle all because-”

“Because what?! SAY IT!”

“BECAUSE YOU FUCKED UP AGAIN!” Asami’s voice rang out as loud as it ever could as she looked straight into her fiancé's eyes as they stood in the middle of the street, Sami seeing Korra’s eyes having gone wide at hearing that.

Yeah, it looked like one thing when Korra admitted it back in that modern universe, but to hear everything bubble up and her other self, the woman who loved Korra say it in a sudden burst of anger was just…

… well, Sami couldn’t think of a word for it honestly.

The man who operated the food stand, even with the threat of the universe’s ending, stood behind his little grill, about to put some peppers on there.

“... I’mma give you ladies some more time to look over the menu.” Was all he said before backing away. Sami apologized to the man, giving him an order for the group and paying for the meal while the couple continued to show the city their relationship issues.

Korra was about to walk away when Sami shoved food into her hands. She did the same with Asami.

“Actually, this is what I wanted. Thanks, Sami.” Korra said, a smile just forming on her face.

“Yeah... I guess we should apologize for dragging you into our fight… and what I also said.” Asami said, already regretting her hurtful words. “We were supposed to have fun.” She noted before commenting about how much she knew herself.

“It’s fine. Let’s get home before you both alert the world about your relationship problems.” Sami then took the lead. A small smile grew on her face as she heard the couple have a mature conversation, apologizing for their hurtful words so soon after.

She longed for one herself, but the shadow spirits were in the way.

“ _Hey, I noticed that plural! I’m trying to help you here!_ ”

“Sorry, Khu-Shui. I meant just Sha-Garou. I know you’re only trying to help.” She whispered back while looking to see if there was anyone starting back at her for talking to herself.

“ _Frustration is a curious emotion humans have..._ ” The spirit answered back. Sami could only let out a small snicker in response.

* * *

_Five days left…_

The next morning, everyone had been up and early, a lot of those ready to fight preparing to train, knowing they were to be in top shape for the battle days away.

Among all those from this universe and others were Korra doing a strictly waterbending sparring match against both Kya and her one armed counterpart. Even being the Avatar, dealing with two versions of the waterbending master was quite the challenge, especially when one of them was a bloodbender.

But after taking everything they laid out, the three women fought to a standstill, bowing respectfully to each other.

Mako himself, noting he was one of the few firebenders on the island aside from the other versions of himself, Zuko and that one firebender-in-training Asami, decided to go against Hatori, herself still learning her newfound bending abilities from her wife. While both Thuy and the modern Izumi cheered for both firebenders, who skills were clearly on display, the victor was obvious with Mako managing to get an easy victory.

“Alrighty, I still got stuff to learn, but not bad.” Hatori shrugged, giving a nod in approval.

As for the earthbenders who were part of the crew aside from Thuy, Toph was drilling them through her own exercises, telling them to do five hundred pushups in a row without the aid of bending or they wouldn’t have breakfast made for them.

She stood, back turned to them, but still having her feet on the ground, in case anyone tried to pull a fast one.

“Lin, 350, decent enough. Su, same with you at 340. Hattori, 305, you’re slacking a bit, but not as bad as Bolin at just 211!”

A whine escaped through Bolin’s mouth as his arms felt ragged after just 50 of them.

“Aww, I’m trying Sifi Toph, ma’am!”

“No talking back or else I’ll add another hundred for you!” Toph yelled out, shutting her future in-law up as he willed himself to keep going, all while Opal, taking a break from meditating with the airbenders, leaned close to her grandmother’s ear.

“So, how long until you’re gonna let them eat anyway?” She whispered.

A slight smile escaped the earthbending master’s lips for a bit. “I’ll give them another five minutes, two and a half if I’m feeling generous.” Toph whispered back.

As Korra made her way over to Asami, seeing her in her training pants and top, sparing with Sami, a loud horn was heard. It was a familiar sound from home as everyone looked to see a ship from the Southern Water Tribe.

And she knew who exactly was waving at them from the deck. “MOM! DAD!”

With a gust of wind propelling her speed, Korra rushed over to the docks, with both Asami’s not far behind along with Tenzin, seeing indeed as the ship docked with Tonraq and Senna coming on down, followed by some soldiers, the father of the Avatar hugging her as tight as he could.

“Korra! So glad to see you!”

“You too, mom…” Korra smirked, turning to see her mother hugging Asami.

“Even with the universe’s possibly ending, no way we weren’t gonna visit.” Tonraq chuckled a bit as Senna slightly nudged his arm.

“Tonraq, you know with Korra leading the charge, they’ll be saved.”

“I know, just... “ Tonraq tried to say before a humored, if slightly serious look at his daughter. “Well, if you’re going into battle with Asami and your allies, you know the entire Southern Water Tribe will follow you, even me.”

Korra could sense the slight unease in her father’s tone, but she held his hands, just happy he's around. “Thank you dad, we need all the help we can get.”

Asami was about to respond when she noticed the both of them spot someone who had stayed behind a bit, seeing Sami several feet away from them. “Sami, come on over…”

“Sami?” Senna asked as the shadowbender slowly approached.

“Yes, to… ah… separate me and Asami.” The other Asami answered, feeling so nervous to meet another version of her in-law’s.

Her mind briefly went back to one of the first universe’s she hopped to after becoming a shadowbender and using the Uchū crystal, looking to arrive in a South Pole village that had already been attacked by her wife.

She saw all the bodies laid about, some villagers, the Katara who lived there and what looked like some White Lotus members, no idea why they were there. But most gutting of all, she saw the Tonraq of the universe with a bloody gaping hole in his chest, with his Senna not that far on the ground, the life looking to be choked out of her…

… and just nearby, looking like she was taking a nap was the young Korra, eyes closed, yet tears still staining her cheeks. But she wasn’t taking a nap, Dark Korra had already gotten to her.

“I…” Sami began to say, snapping back to reality, seeing the concerned faces on the four, trying to say something when Tenzin put his hand on her shoulder.

“Sami, take a deep breath, I’m sure this is a lot for you.”

Hearing the wise words, Sami did just that before trying to force a smile on her lips. “I’m happy to meet you, again, I’m… from another universe, the one where my Korra-”

But before she could utter another word, Tonraq took her into his arms as did Senna, both hugging the girl who couldn’t help but welcome the warmth of the gesture.

“We’re sorry.” Senna said in the most motherly tone she could.

“We can tell you have been through alot, but as far as we’re concerned, you’re just as much as our daughter-in-law as Asami.” Tonraq added in, something which made Sami feel so much better.

“ _And Ihere I am getting sick from all the sugary sweetness going on…_ ”

Both adults suddenly noticed the change in voice coming from Sami, realizing something was up as they let go and saw how different her eyes were.

“That’s new.” Senna noted.

“Right, that’s Khu-Shui, the shadow spirit in Sami.” Korra pointed out, having forgot to bring up that little detail, rubbing her thumbs together.

“Another shadow spirit?” Tonraq asked, looking at his daughter. “Is she evil too?”

“ _No, I'm the good one…_ ” Khu-Shui groaned out before shifting her red and yellow eyes around before holding her hands out. “ _But can I get another hug? That was my first one and… it felt nice._ ”

Both parents looked confused, but at Korra and Asami’s, if bemused, encouragement, Tonraq and Senna hugged the spirit back. Even if this was the body of another Asami they were hugging, it still felt weird.

“ _If this is what it’s like to have a caring family, must say, I rather like it._ ”

With those words, Sami’s head lowered and rose back up, her eyes back to normal as she gave a goofy grin, aware of the confusion of Korra’s parents who tried to get a hang of things. “She’s… different. But helpful and nice.”

Tenzin, sensing the surreal feeling the Southern Water Tribe chief and his wife were feeling, gave a short sigh followed with a small smile.

“Trust me, it caught me by surprise too, but Khu-Shui’s to be trusted. She has been more than helpful during all of this.” 

“Well, If my daughter and Tenzin trust the spirit, well so will I and Senna.” Tonraq replied as Senna nodded in approval.

Korra and Asami couldn’t help but nod with a smile, seeing Sami be put at ease hearing this, sure that Khu-Shui felt the same.

“As long as we’re on the same page, I think now would be the perfect time to get all everyone in charge of their own groups together, to talk over the game plan.”

Everyone knew as great as it was to reunite, there was a large reason why that held huge importance.

* * *

“So that’s the only way we’re gonna be able to defeat Sha-Garou…” Zuko asked, kneeling next to his daughter as he held a cup of tea in his hand, sipping it as they sat in Tenzin’s mediation room.

Having heard all of the information given to him, along with the other leaders, by Korra, the Asami’s and Khu-Shui, each of them all had their own look of shock and surprise, learning that out of the only two ways to vanquish the evil shadow spirit for good, the only one they were able to do now was at the cost of the life of the woman Sami still loved.

“And you’re all sure there’s no way to get in contact with a bright spirit?” Tenzin asked, with Jinora at his side.

“ _None…_ ” Khu-Shui answered, having been in control of Sami for a few minutes. “ _When me and your kid, the one from their universe I mean…_ ” She made sure to note with a point of Sami’s finger at Hattori Beifong and One-Arm Kya, who had gotten in contact with the armies that their allies lead in their universe, all ready to fight.

“ _We looked around the spirit world, back in their old home where I now take residence. Much as Jinora looked around, and trust me, she tried, no dice._ ”

It wasn’t spoken, but all those in the room who were listening could easily hear the pain and regret in Khu-Shui’s voice, sensing she still blamed herself for the spirits’ extinction.

“There has to be some sign of these bright spirits still existing, maybe not in the spirit world, but in ours.” President Zhu-Li, having arrived on the island to go over the plans, brought up as Varrick sat next to her, currently writing down some adjustments to the mech he saw that still alive Hiroshi Sato working on.

“Mother, you’re always in contact with spirit vines thanks to the swamps, have you ever sensed anything like them before?” Suyin asked Toph who sat aside her along with Lin.

“Sorry Su, can’t say I have.” Toph answered, having taken a sip of her own cup of tea Zuko made for her. “I feel like from what we’ve been told, even I could have told the difference between a bright spirit and some regular light one. But I simply never encountered one.”

“And the other universes...” Katara, having too been invited to the conversation to share anything, asked. “No such sign of them around either?”

“ _If there was even a single bright spirit left in any universe, I or another me would have felt their energy, Master Katara…_ ” Khu-Shui answered once more, just wishing herself that one survived the massacre, if to lessen her guilt just a bit. “ _But I feel nothing, they’re gone._ ”

Just as the shadow spirit finished speaking, a slight cough came from Eska and Desna’s direction, the twins decided not to beat around the bush.

“So, take it we’re all just trying to avoid the uncomfortable topic…” Eska began.

“... that we have to kill her wife to get rid of Sha-Garou.” Desna finished before slightly turning his head towards where Sami’s body stood. “No offense.”

“ _She says none taken, but is slyly giving you a rude gesture from where she is._ ” Khu-Shui deadpanned… eliciting an odd laugh from the co-leader of the Northern Water Tribe.

“... yep, that’s Asami alright, good choice.” Desna said over to Korra, who along with Asami, couldn’t tell if he meant it or was just being regular Desna.

“Thanks?” Korra asked before bringing things back into perspective. “But they are right, having to kill the other me isn’t exactly the first choice of mine to free her from Sha-Garou’s influence. But his grip on her body is too strong.”

“We all saw him take over her body, we... “ Asami began before remembering the visual of what was Dark Korra’s eyes tearing up and pleading in silence as her last act of free will before losing all control. “... saw the last of what remaining control she had taken away from her, there was no going back. She’s… gone for good.”

The uncomfortable silence engulfed the room once more, everyone listening having their own opinions at the only choice they had left.

From Tonraq, along with Eska and Desna, realizing they’d have to, if they were powerful enough, kill a version of someone who shared their blood…

To Zuko and Toph, who knew that a version of their old friend reborn had to die possibly by their hands, as did Katara who knew it had to happen to another one of her husband reborn and her best student.

One Arm Kya having to end the life of a doppelganger of her own daughter…

Khu-Shui sensing that for all much as she accepted it, that Sami had the tiniest inkling of regret at what has to done.

And Korra, who knew as the Prime, that she’d more than likely have to be the one to deliver the killing blow, and it scared her more than anything else, more so than losing her Asami.

No one in the room wanted to admit it, but each of them all knew as much as it’ll pain them to do so, they’d have to kill this other Korra when the first chance they’d get. 

“I know everyone in this room has their own connection to the poor girl under that spirits control…”

Everyone turned to where Azula sat cross legged on the ground, the Fire Mother having chosen to stay silent since the meeting started, having quietly sipped her tea.

“I myself have never even met our Korra until yesterday. But within the amount of interaction I’ve had with her and everyone, I can tell you all care for her in your own way.” She explained, her old voice still having the slight edge everyone old enough to remember her knew as her eyes scanned the whole room.

“But if you do all care for Korra, or any of the Korra’s known by all of our interdimensional guests, you’d realize slaying this dark version of her while the shadow spirit is inside of her would be us freeing her.”

She then gave a slight shrug. “Granted, she’d die and while the Avatar chain would resume, she’d more than likely have to answer for what she’s done in the spirit world. But I personally think that this Korra would accept her fate, at least happy to be freed of Sha-Garou’s grasp.”

That sudden mood switch got everyone to look at the firebending master in a bemused, if slightly disturbed manner. Well, except for Zuko, Toph and Katara who were used to it.

“... You got issues, lady.” Eska said, a look of curious surprise on her and Desna’s face at the Fire Mother.

“Yes, I know.” was all the former Fire Nation Princess said.

“Still…” Sami’s voice came out from her body, showing she was back in control, looking up at her allies in the room. “Azula’s right, about the first part, whatever we do to end my wife's life, she’ll finally be freed from his influence and be at peace. I have accepted this and I know as much as it will pain you all to admit, so have you all.”

Knowing the words still stung her as she said them, Korra and Asami hugged Sami, wanting to give her some form of comfort.

“I think that’s enough talking for now, we will all pick up on the topic later.” Korra said, turning to the others as they all got the gist of what she said. “Thank you all.” 

* * *

_Couple days later, 19 Hours Left..._

The waves crashed into the cliff below, singing its harsh tune. It certainly didn’t help her nerves how she wanted the help. The winds were harsh on this day, which was supposed to be a merry one. She rubbed her temple before turning to the sounds of feet coming nearer.

“Nervous, Korra?” Katara joined her at the cliffside as did Kya.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was.”

“Can’t say I blame you.” The elder waterbender made note.

“I have to keep telling myself that we’re not rushing this. It’s a good time, right? Even right before a fight we could lose?”

Kya smiled, her hand on the girl’s shoulder “Time is always right for love, Korra.”

“Yeah, but…” The Avatar tried to say, her mind was a whirlpool of thoughts. “Asami had it all planned out, and I don’t wanna see all her hard work go to-”

The worried rambling was briefly silenced when Kya pressed her finger onto Korra’s lips.

“Korra, trust me. She gets it, heck, I think she wanted it to happen sooner.” The older woman removed her finger as she continued. “Now, I know there were some other traditions Asami was looking for. This is quite temporary, and a bit out of order, but since this is short notice, I think I can help.”

Looking at Katara who silently gave a nod of approval, Kya took off her necklace. It felt heavy in her hand, giving it a quiet farewell before she held it out for Korra to take, “For now, this will act as your good will and eternal love for her.”

Now with the weight of the necklace in her hand, Korra turned to her with a look of guilt. “I can’t take this. This is yours.”

A hand playfully shoved her, “Sure you can. It has meant a lot to me, but I am passing it to you.”

“Plus, just picture Asami’s cheeks going red at the sight.” Katara said with a light chuckle as Korra looked at the beautiful necklace, a simple thought in mind.

“She’s probably nervous too.”

The three sat in silence as the tides settled to a slow hum. The warmth of the sun began to come out. It eased the nervousness some, reminding them both that better times were always there.

“Thank you Kya.” Korra said with a smile as kind as both her teacher and the healer.

“Don’t thank me until Asami says ‘I do’.” Kya said back, giving a good hug, almost as tight as one Korra herself would give. She then helped Korra to her feet before doing the same with her mother, “Come on ladies, we have a wedding to get to. The day’s brighter and just in time.”

* * *

Korra stood in front of Bolin. She was wringing her sleeves as her nervousness returned. Bolin was whispering into her ear, but she couldn’t hear him over the sound of her own heart drumming in her chest.

In a small hall on the island, she stood, surrounded by so many of her close friends and family, even some of those from the other universe’s wanted to witness the wedding, or at least what was considered an improvised prelude to the larger scale one originally planned.

But as far as Korra was concerned, she couldn’t wait. She remembered telling Asami the idea the night before, that before the battle against Sha-Garou, they should move up their wedding to this very day. Something that was quick, but still mattered.

They’d still have their big fancy one after they would defeat Sha-Garou of course. But Korra told Asami that if by chance they somehow lost and would perish, she would want to die married to the woman she loved.

Asami herself, having been quietly listening to her fiancé, finally said her first words since before Korra laid out the idea.

“That sounds perfect.”

The crowd grew quiet. Korra shifted towards the end of the crowd as familiar faces stepped into the hall. Mako stood beside Asami. The awkwardness of the request fainted away, especially after Thuy told him to just do it, and he was more than honored to provide that service to his friends.

Soon, Korra was looking right into Asami’s beautiful face, seeing her cute smile, giving one of her trademark lopsided ones of their own.

Neither needed to speak at the moment, they knew exactly what the other was feeling.

“Everyone in this lovely Air Nomad hall, we thank you for coming around in such short notice…” Bolin began until a voice rang out from the crowd.

“Understatement of the freakin' year!”

“Mother!” Both Lin and Suyin yelled out in protest at Toph’s remark at the same time as all versions of the master earthebender’s children sighed, if because of them not being surprised.

“Yes, thank you future grandmother-in-law.” Bolin droned out before resuming his duties. “This is only my second time officiating a wedding, fun times Varrick, Madam President Zhu-Li…” He noted, pointing at the two guests who gave silent smiles as the mention.

“But I feel honored, as quick and out of nowhere this is, to stand before you all not just officiating the wedding of the Avatar and the owner of Future Industries, but my two best friends, Korra and Asami Sato. Well, of course, I also count as my best friends my lovely Opal, my brother and Thuy-”

“Get on with it!” Now it was Azula’s turn to be annoyed as Zuko whispered at her to quiet down.

Not wanting to face the Fire Mother’s wrath, Bolin regained his composure looking at the two women in front of him. “Right then. I assume you two wrote vows for each other?” Both Korra and Asami nodded. “Alright, Asami, you’re up first.”

Just as Asami was prepared to speak, the doors opened. A slight rush of panic ran through Korra at the sight of Zaheer walking in with P’li before suddenly remembering they were the ones from that Red Lotus universe. Neither said anything but lingered in the back.

“What the flameo are THEY DOING HERE?!?” Hattori and One-Arm Kya yelled out at the sight of the two, memories coming back into mind.

At the sight of the man who almost killed his daughter, Tonraq as quickly as he rose up, rushed towards Zaheer, lifting him off the ground and against the wall.

“YOU SON OF A- HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF JAIL!?” He commanded, prepared to waterbend an ice spike to jam into his throat.

Zaheer lifted his hands to show he wasn’t going to fight, “I’m not here to cause any harm or interrupt. Please, don’t stop the ceremony because of P’Li and I.”

Before P’Li could make her way to Zaheer’s side, her wrists were suddenly tightened together with a piece of metal, Suyin’s hand raised towards her, the sight of her bending the metal plate over P’Li’s head just before she let out a combustion blast ringing back into mind.

“Don’t you even think about it.”

“Please, stop this, we’re not your enemy here!” The combustion-bender called out, only for Hattori to approach the two with One-Arm Kya at his side.

“I don’t know…” He began, undoing part of his metal uniform around his arm, making sure both Red Lotus members got a full view of the scars that adorned his skin. “The scars your asshole of a boyfriend gave me all over my upper body with air blades says otherwise.”

He then gave a look towards a still unmoving Zaheer, who hadn’t changed the look on his face. “By the way, I spent four months recovering from that shit, the only positive thing I got out of that was meeting a very kind nurse named Ula.”

“You have it all wrong, we’re not from your universe, or from any of your universes.” Zaheer countered back, turning to look at the Southern Water Tribe leader. “And me doing that is impossible because I never met this asshole before, I’m not even an airbender!”

“Bullshit.” One-Arm Kya said, focused on P’Li as she had her water arm turn into an ice blade too. “I remember almost being blown away by you, damn near killed me and Bumi.”

“Well, maybe with my Kya.” Bumi pointed out to which the alternative universe version of his sister looked at him.

“No, the same thing happened, trust me.”

“All of you stop, they’re telling the truth!” Korra called out, rushing over to her father. “I know this sounds crazy, but we’ve been in their universe before! Sha-Garou had Dark Korra attack them and killed their Ghazan and Ming-Hua. They fought alongside us to protect their Korra!”

“Why would they want to protect their version of you? Didn’t they want to end the Avatar chain?” Tonraq asked as Zaheer gave a slightly smug smile.

“To be honest, we actually kidnapped her and turned her into our most powerful weapon against order.”

“YOU’RE NOT HELPING!” Korra turned back to look at the Red Lotus member, annoyed at this.

“I know this is all crazy, but they’re telling the truth!” Sami pointed out, having finally spoken before feeling her head lower.

“ _Oh, for me’s sake! Hey, blind lady, are they telling the truth?!_ ” Khu-Shui asked Toph, now in control of the shadowbender’s body.

“Little hard to tell to be honest, they’re like Azula, they could be buying their own bullshit.” Toph answered, flicking something out of her nose with a finger, just knowing Azula was shooting her a glare as Khu-Shui groaned.

“ _Oh, come on! How is that possible?!?_ ”

“Look, you may not believe this, but we cared about Korra, okay?” P’Li interrupted, knowing how that sounded instantly. “I mean, our Korra. We had our goals in the beginning, sure, but as she grew up, we no longer saw the Korra we knew as our weapon, she was one of us, she was our friend, she…”

She couldn’t believe she was outright admitting this, looking at Zaheer who knew just what she was thinking, turning to Tonraq’s still untrusting eyes.

“She was like a daughter to us. When I saw her die, it felt like my heart was ripped out, like what would have happened if that shadowbender doppelganger had killed P’Li.”

The two Red Lotus members looked at the looks of distrust they were still earning, Zaheer feeling an odd feeling… one that didn’t sit right with him considering how devoted he was to the teachings of the group..

It felt like regret.

“We understand versions of ourselves from your universes have harmed you all in some form of fashion. We can’t apologize for their actions, nor can we do so with our own. We still believe in what the Red Lotus stand for, but seeing our allies murdered, our Korra’s energy taken out of her, seeing her limp body fall on the ground, having to bury her…”

Zaheer closed his eyes, feeling them sting with wetness before noticing P’Li’s cuffed hands feel his shoulder, she herself daring to move close to him, despite being held at metal and ice shard point.

“Regardless if the world is thrown into chaos or not, one thing is for certain now, the universe NEEDS the Avatar. And like our's, many others had theirs stolen from them because of that shadow spirit. We may not share the same ideas, but you also need as much help as you could against Sha-Garou.”

Zaheer then turned his attention towards Korra, Asami and Sami.

“So until he’s defeated and we all go back to our universes, me and P’Li offer our help in tomorrow’s battle.”

It was silent. A dead silent, enough to hear a pin drop on a ground. Everyone looked at the two versions of those they considered enemies. Would they dare work with them, knowing once the battle is done with, they’d be back to their usual Red Lotus business?

But before Korra could give a verdict as it seemed like everyone expected her to give it, Asami approached the two anarchists.

“You said you knew what it was like to have your heart ripped out? Is that true?”

“Yes.” Was all Zaheer answered, and once Asami glanced at P’Li, who gave the same answer, she looked at Korra, both remembering what Sami said about her Korra having the same feeling when they lost Yasuko.

“Let them be, like we said, they’re not lying…”

Korra knew the choice would still divide some opinions, but she knew the truth as well. “If my wife believes them, so do I. Let them go.”

Zaheer and P’Li, at that moment, felt thankful for this Avatar siding with them as those who had surrounded them lowered their weapons and uncuffed them as they went back to what they had been doing.

Just then, P’li nudged Zaheer in the direction where they saw the metalbender girl from before, remembering what she had revealed to them, looking to briefly wave them over to a spot near a pillar she sat at, walking over.

“While I still harbor my own feelings towards the versions of the both of you in this universe…” Thuy whispered, not wanting to interrupt the couple who were about to get back to getting to their vows as Mako held her hand, silently encouraging her.  
  
“... I am glad you two choose to fight with us.”

With that, the ceremony went off without any more interruptions, Asami gave her vows and when it was Korra’s turn, she gave her own.

Bolin then asked if they’d take each other as their wives, partners, soulmates through sickness and health, already knowing their answers before proudly announcing them Avatar and wife, sealed with a kiss as a tearful Korra fitted the betrothal necklace around a proud Asami’s neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey, the chapter is done and with some things moved up, Korra and Asami Sato are married, which makes Korra now "Korra Sato". Ignoring the brief argument in the beginning, it was always planned for the two to have their wedding moved up before the final battle as was the Zaheer and P'Li from the Red Lotus Korra Verse coming back to join the fight, which Piptook came up with how they appeared. XD
> 
> With the last of those from the prime universe arriving, the final battle is upon us... not next chapter, got one more side one to go through, but without big spoilers, it'll be a "Tales of Ba Sing Se" of sort of chapter, all I will say. XD Also, smaller chapter than before, blame Piptook. XD Again, hope you all liked her co-writing, we're currently working on the second to last chapter! Till next chapter!


	24. Chapter Twenty Three- Secrets Over Last Drinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early chapter up! And while there is nothing warranting a TW, there is a theme or two of regret and loss included in this chapter. Still, be sure to read this, then give it kudos, bookmark, comment and just overall enjoy it!

“So, I take it you’re now ‘ _Avatar Korra Sato_ ’?”

Korra couldn’t help but snicker at the words of the Hiroshi Sato who had his airbender daughter next to him, finding it somewhat funny, yet still surreal and off to hear, considering not only the past between her and the Hiroshi she knew, but that he himself couldn’t be there to walk his actual daughter down the aisle.

“Technically speaking, yes. City won’t see it official until the big one. Or at least until I threaten them to make it legal.” She answered, to which both alternative Satos laughed at before hugging Korra.

The airbender Asami gave a sad smile. “While I wish…” She began, knowing she had to choose her words due to having lost her Korra, the memory still burning. “This happened with me and my love, I’m still glad to see another set of us have their happiness.”

“Don’t think it’ll be the end…” Hiroshi said, his own voice solemn, but still filled with hope as he looked at his daughter. “As while I know it’ll be some time before we see your mother again in the spirit world, you’ll see your Korra again too.”

Some sniffling was heard, but not from any of the three as they noticed Wu, the one from the Modern-verse nearby, wiping his nose.

“Oh RAAVA, that was so beautiful. Heck, everything is so beautiful, hope mine and Mako’s wedding brings out…” He tried to say before bursting out in tears. “OH, I swore I wouldn’t cry! And I was on a roll too!”

Korra chuckled at this, patting his shoulder. “Thank you Wu.” She said before turning back to the other Sato’s. “And thank you for those words, I promise, we’ll make things right tomorrow.”

As the improved reception continued, Mako sat in silence. His mind wasn’t sure on how to feel about everything. It still felt like a blur. All these different possibilities. Perhaps there was one where he never had to struggle and fight to protect Bolin. Perhaps there was a Mako that grew up with his parents.  
  
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Not the time for this.” The wedding was meant to be a good time, even if large gatherings kept him on edge.   
  
“Hey luv…” He heard Thuy’s voice ask, bringing with her Opal and Bolin, all with drinks in their hands, seeing how he was. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“Oh, nothing.” Mako tried to ignore it, sipping his drink. “Just stuff on the mind, nothing important.”

“Come on bro. Something’s eating at you.” Bolin brought up, sitting next to him as did the two girls.  
  
“What’s eating at Mako?”

Mako himself had to grown as Hattori and One-Arm Kya approached the group, with Korra, Asami and even Lin and Kya not far before as they all sat at the table, the male Chief’s voice slightly slurred as he and his partner had already been sharing a bottle of Earth Kingdom liquor they stole from Tenzin’s office. "Don't be like that, we be having fun."  
  
“Look, you guys have a party to enjoy-” Mako tried to bring up, but then Sami’s hand covered his mouth, the shadowbender smirking a bit, too having indulged in some drinks, though not to a large extent.

“Can’t have a party if someone’s acting like a pooper of parties.” Sami noted, sitting down too, pouring herself her own glass from the bottle brought over with her bending. “Come on, lighten up shark-brows, tell us what’s up.”

The firebender grimaced at the nickname directed at his eyebrows before shaking it off.

“I’m just reflecting. There’s plenty to go over. So much has happened these last few months.”

“Come on, there has to be something.” He missed who spoke. His reply followed a sigh.

“I’m just thinking about what Korra and Asami will need for this coming fight. There’s a lot to stress over, and I don’t want them overly stressed. Besides, they just got married.”

“You’re stressed over the fight?” Sami asked with slurred confusion.

“Aren’t any of you? There’s a lot hanging on this fight.”

“Of course we are! Fuck, why do you think I’m drinking?” Hattori shot back, using his metalbending to grab himself another bottle of Si Wong Desert Gin from the makeshift bar.

“Look, Mako, everyone knows what’s in store tomorrow, but this may be their last day to get things in order, have fun, be with family, friends…” Korra explained before showing looking around, seeing how happy the guests were at the moment. “Some people just need the distraction, if just for a short while.”

Bolin gave each of them a look before interrupting, “Well then, this is supposed to be a merry time. What we need is a happy tale of heroism, danger and resilience!” He stood up, prepared to put on a show. 

“Bolin, now’s not the time for a Nuktuk performance.” Asami giggled as the earthbender looked down at his friends and sighed. “But thank you anyway.”

Mako couldn’t help but… oddly feel humor from this, yet also happiness at the sight. “If I can be honest, I wish I was more like you, Bo.” He said to his younger brother who gave him a look of surprise.

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, I know everyone sees me as the serious one who doesn’t share his feelings much, aside from Thuy… but honestly, I always wished that I’d be as outgoing and free thinking as you. Always finding a way to make someone smile” Mako admitted, swirling his drink around. “As all of you really.”

“Even me?” Lin questioned, the snark not lost on anyone to which the firebender had to give another chuckle, nodding at his commander officer. “Yeah, you may be barking up the wrong tree.”

“You have your moments Chief, you just don’t realize it.” Mako finished for Lin who she herself felt surprised to hear as the Detective looked around at his closest friends and his girlfriend. “Maybe if we all survive tomorrow, maybe I can look at life in a brand new way.”

“Aw, please don’t. We like Mr. Serious Shark-brows!” Korra playfully whined as she gripped her friend’s arm, which Mako had to look at Sami at who only snickered at this.

“See what you caused now?”

“Oh hush up, it’s a term of endearment! Me and my Korra used to call you that all the time in my universe!” The shadowbender said with a hiccup at the end. “In fact, when Yasuko was to be born, we were gonna have her call you-”

But then, Sami herself stopped, realizing what was about to be said, which the others seemed to catch on, watching the traveler go back to her drink, her voice shrinking smaller. “... never mind.”

Sensing that the mood may sour once more, Bolin took some of the wine and poured it into his empty glass. “Actually, as long as we’re talking secrets… I’ve… actually been writing a mover script.”

And he was thankful for that as Thuy looked at him and gave a loud laugh at hearing that, nudging him. “WHAT?! You, a mover writer?

“Well, obviously it’s not sold yet, but… just been something I’ve been working on in my free time, a personal piece about everything I’ve encountered since I was born.” Bolin countered, taking a sip of his drink, already feeling himself feel fuzzy from the alcohol.

“I didn’t know that, how come you didn’t tell me?” Opal asked her fiance, curious.

“Well, part of it involved me proposing to you in the script. Obviously things in real life didn’t go as planned, but that’s one reason.” He explained as Kya patted his shoulder, a slight smirk on her face.

“You better have written me to be awesome, young man. Lin and I.”

“Of course!” Bolin answered before looking at all his friends. “It may be about me, but I’m not writing you all to be mean or cruel… well, maybe Eska.” He noted before taking notice of his ex sitting at a table with Desna…

… which wouldn’t be so out of place if he didn’t notice Huan also sitting next to her, both actually looking to have a civil conservation as-- Wait, did Eska just _giggle_ at what Huan said?!

“Alright, let’s have some fun. Since this is our last night before possibly dying tomorrow, let’s all each of us admit a secret we’ve never told anyone.” One-Arm Kya noted, sipping her glass before looking at the mohawked metalbender. “Thuy, what you got?”

Hearing that, Thuy now realized eyes were on her. “OH, me… well... “ She tried to think of something. “I’m… not a fan of…” She wasn’t sure how this would sound, as evident by how quiet she finished her sentence. “... squirrel toads.”

“... Squirrel toads?” Hattori asked in disbelief, about as dumbfounded as with everyone else.

“Yep, they creep me out.”

“But… Why those?” Korra had to ask.

“Yeah, they’re so cute!” Opal pointed out to which Thuy looked at her, shaking her head. 

“Fuckin’ things aren’t cute; they’re unnerving, webbed feet, yet they have a furry tail. And those smiley faces on their backs, they’re… ahhh, don’t wanna talk about it. What secret do you have, Opal, huh?”

Opal could see her friend trying to avoid the topic and shrugged. "Other than when I was five, I found my mom's hidden stash of cactus juice and tried it out, which made for a very awkward family picnic, nothing that big really, I’m just a honest gal."

The airbender turned her attention to Asami with a curious smile, “What about you, Asami? There has to be something.”

The other woman placed a hand on her chin. Thoughts on what she could say ran through her mind. She shared most of them, mostly with Korra but they were wanting to talk on deeper subjects, or whatever earned a chuckle.

Then it came to her. She told herself that sharing this one would cause more harm than good. After some time passed, she forgot about it, having pushed it to the far depths of her mind. It wasn’t a story for the happy atmosphere around them, but it wasn’t going to do more harm than good now.

“Years ago, when we were all living at my father’s mansion,” She started slowly before the confidence of her story came back, “There was that day when we were all watching Chief Beifong search my father’s underground warehouses. When my father handed me the glove, I stopped. I was frozen in choices to make because he wanted me to join him. I… sort of thought about it. There was some resentment at the time about my mother and raw feelings were beginning to return.”

Korra spoke up softly, “But you didn’t. You saw through what was going on and I’m happy you picked us. I know it was a hard choice at the time.” The newlyweds embraced each other. Korra whispered words of wisdom and a joke to cheer Asami up.

“What about you uncle Hattori, got any juicy secrets?” Opal asked before getting a bit of a sly smirk on her face. “Maybe one about Izumi?”

That question made blush Hattori madly, looking deep into his drink. “N-No... “ He slightly stuttered, but one did come to mind, not about his love. “Actually, there was something I never got the chance to mention.”

Sipping his drink, the memory came back to mind, turning to look at Lin, voice slurred a bit more, but still focused.

“Alright, I assume here years ago, when Amon and his Equalist assholes were still around, he took your bending, blocked up your little chi-spot which Korra fixed up?” That got him a nod from Lin, who still remembered that night as she held the line to let Tenzin and his family escape.

“Yeah, I… still have the rare nightmare or two.”

“Yeah, don’t blame you.” Hattori noted, patting her shoulder to give comfort as he too still had ‘em. “The same happened with me, only with my favorite galpal helping her family get away.” He said, giving a small smile at One-Arm Kya who remembered Hattori demanding her to leave him behind and protect Tenzin and the few airbenders at the time, even having to pull the "Superior Officer" card on her.

Yet One-Arm Kya couldn't help but give a smug smirk of her own, if lightly playing with her partner.

“Still say that wouldn’t have happened if I was around.”

“Considering the masked bastard also turned out to be a bloodbender, erm, maybe.” Hattori agreed before looking at the others. “Anyway, after getting my ass kicked and getting chi-blocked by his boys, Amon stood over me like the smug sack of crap he was, ready to do the deed. But me being me, I wanted to get in one last laugh, so I requested that I’d at least get two things out of him beforehand.”

While he was sure he had a concussion at the time, Hattori still remembered those events well enough.

“I wanted to get in some last words and to see under the mask. Oh, he tried to give me that “Everyone is Amon” Speech, but I told him, in my own words " _I not in the fuckin’ mood, just take the damn mask off already._ " So he took it off and I saw his face along with the ‘burns’.” He said with more of his slurring, finger quoting when he said the last word, getting some snickers from the others.

Just then, Hattori couldn’t help but give a chuckle at what happened next. “Now, originally my last words before he took my bending was just gonna be me spitting blood into his face and telling him to go suck a railroad spike. But upon seeing what was under the mask, I had something else in mind…” He said, the memory as fresh as the night five years before resuming the story.

* * *

_The beaten and bloodied Chief Hattori Beifong watched as Amon, surrounded by his foolish followers, unmasked himself, his mismatched eyes widening at the sight of the burn on the tan skinned face._

_“Alright Chief Beifong, you said you had some last words before I cleanse you? Perhaps a cliqued ‘Fuck you’?” Amon’s smooth voice asked, never seeming to lose his cool, nor smugness. "_ _Or maybe telling me to stuff something crude up my rear? I am quite curious." He continued, only for Hattori to give a snort while giving a bloody smile, accepting his fate._

_“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to whisper it to you and ONLY you." Hattori requested. "Just because I think you’d get a kick out of it.”_

_Amon seemed to give the request some brief thought as his followers watched before nodding. “Alright, but no tricks.” He said as he kneeled in front of the Chief who nodded and leaned forward, his mouth to the right ear of Amon._

_And with the blood stained smile still on his face, he whispered four words that only the two at that moment heard._

_“Nice fuckin’ makeup job.”_

* * *

Hearing that, Lin herself began laughing, finding it too funny, which admittingly unnerved the others who didn’t expect that aside from Kya, which didn't escape the Beifong woman. “What, I can’t find that funny? Wish I had said that back then!”

Hattori had to nod. “Should have seen his eyes burst out his skull when I said that.” He said, pouring himself another drink of the gin. “So yeah, with that, he took away my bending. And honestly, I kind of forgot I said that until when my Lin came back doing her thing, partially because of the concussion I got.”

Sipping his drink more, he turned to his best friend. “Alright, your turn One-Arm.”

“Oh sure, put me on the spot, ya' one eyed asshole.” One-Arm Kya said back in a teaseful tone before looking at the others. “Unlike him, my secret, it’s a recent one, so mileage may vary, but…”

An odd feeling came to mind, something like she hadn’t felt in years, especially with everything that had happened, maybe except when she finally saw Reiko’s eyes after so long.

“With current events, talking to Reiko again, making up with my mother, along with Buro, the guy who i accidentally crippled when we younger by the way, and…” The memory of watching her daughter’s life being ripped from her body flashed before the one armed woman’s mind before looking at the others “... the loss of my Korra. I decided that after tomorrow, after we win, if we do, I’m retiring. I’m leaving the force.”

“What? Really?” Hattori had to ask, caught completely off guard at this.

“But, you’re so cool! You’re like a more snarky badass in her own way version of Kya!” Bolin noted before he noticed his Kya give a quick look, to which he back peddled his choice of words. “I-I-I m-mean, not that you’re not badass-”

“I get it.” She noted before turning at her other self, surprised. “What made you decide this, Kya?” Kya had to ask her other self who shrugged.

“Honestly, I’m not getting any younger, spirits know why Hattori or Lin want to stay being cops. And I had only joined up because I was in a bad place at the time after what happened with Buro and Mother and never had a reason to look back until now.” One-Arm Kya explained before looking at Hattori.

“Don’t get me wrong Hattori, you’re the perfect partner and best friend, but after all we’ve been through in these universes, all I got to do… I think it’s the spirits’ way of telling me to hang up my boots.”

Listening to her words, Hattori just gave a calm, but happy smile.

“I understand Kya, I really do. And I respect your decision, as both your superior officer and your best friend.” The male Chief said before giving his friend a hug who returned the favor, feeling himself give a bit of a hiccup, which may be the liquor doing its part. “I’m gonna miss busting crooks with you.”

Watching the moment gave Lin some thoughts, letting them run in her head a bit before a question came to mind. “So, what about Reiko? Obviously you still harbor feelings for her.”

“Oh, you do?” Asami asked the bloodbender, having been curious about their relationship as the one armed woman turned to her.

“Yeah. And while we have to deal with the loss of our daughter, I’d rather do it with her at my side than do it alone.”

“You’ll never be alone Kya, you got your friends and family there for you whenever you need them.” Korra said with a kind smile only she could give that One-Arm Kya was thankful to see, if because it was the closest to seeing her daughter smile ever again.

“Thank you Korra.” She said before pointing at her. “But now Bride number two, it’s your turn to talk.”

“Oh,” Korra tried to hide in her spot, “What’s there to keep a secret about? I’m the Avatar and everyone knows just about everything about me.”

“Liar!” Mako cracked a slight smile, “There has to be something.”

“Fine… I was... slightly chubby as a child, until the age of eight,” Korra huffed and crossed her arms to continue to show her unhappiness about sharing something like that.

And she had every right because they all erupted in laughter, making comments and jokes about it.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough making fun of the bride who can just as easily beat you all up.” Asami said after having made her own cute joke about Korra, holding her hand as she looked into her eyes. “Regardless if you have a toned stomach or a potbelly, I’d still love you.”

That got Korra’s tan cheeks as red as Bolin’s who also tried to settle the rest down, though his was more from drinking than his fiancé comforting him.  
  
“Alright, there’s someone we’re missing… Lin?” He asked, looking where Lin was sitting… only to realize along with the others that both she and Kya had actually passed out in their seats in each other’s arms, presumably from all the drinking.  
  
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?! You’re out already?” Hattori, his voice slurring more, asked in confusion before sipping from the bottle of gin. “How are you a Beifong, Lin?” He asked, looking down in silence… before falling sideways onto the ground, completely passing out too.

“.... alright, Sami, you’re up…” Bolin shrugged as he pointed at her, not realizing that she hadn’t spoken since he began talking earlier.  
  
“I… honestly got no secrets.”  
  
The words fell hard like stone, because she knew it was a lie, so did Khu-Shui, so did everyone else still awake.

“None?” Thuy asked, getting a forced shake of the head in response.  
  
“Come on Sami, you don’t need to be earthbending to know you’re lying…” Asami, in a soft tone said, putting her hand onto Sami’s. “You can tell us.”

The truth stung her everytime she thought of it, those seconds which somehow felt like hours, what resulted from it. “It’s… I don’t wanna admit it.”   
  
“Sami, it’s alright, no one will judge you here, we all just spilled our hearts out, whatever you say won’t change how we think of you.” Korra assured, hugging the still unsure girl.  
  
“Alright…” Sami sighed, pouring herself another glass of the burning drink, her last one as she swallowed it. “I… back when I was in the hospital, resting, I…”

She closed her eyes, actually admitting it hurt more, yet that familiar voice in her head rang out.  
  
“ _Hey, Asami, you got this, let it out, it’ll help._ ”  
  
Khu-Shui’s words rang out to only her, but she sounded the same as when Sami was given the chance to make things right, soothing, kind, wanting... warm. She opened her eyes.  
  
“I awoke, seemingly briefly, but I heard my Korra asking me to forgive her for what she was about to do and that she loved me…” Sami explained before remembering what happened next. “It then hit me as my eyes opened, enough to see her stop at the door. Sha-Garou gave her another offer, to become a shadowbender and kill Guan for what he did, taking away Yasuko. And…”

For a second, she looked down, tears slowly forming before Sami looked back up to look at the others who listened in respectful silence.  
  
“For a brief moment, seconds… _I wanted her to say yes_.”  
  
Saying those words made Sami feel like she had just been stabbed in the heart, looking into her empty glass. “For what seemed like hours, but was really a few seconds, I wanted Korra to accept Sha-Garou’s offer, find Guan and make him suffer, kill him for everything he had done…”

Then as she finished speaking that last part, the memory of seeing Yasuko in the spirit world in the fields flashed in her mind for a second, looking up at a surprised Korra and Asami.  
  
“But then, I realized it was wrong. Just because good people could get mad, doesn’t make them a bad person, that’s what I told Korra months ago, but… I felt disgusted at myself for even thinking of wanting Korra killing Guan, no matter how much I hated the guy...”  
  
With a sigh, she looked at the others. “But before I could even tell my wife not to accept Sha-Garou’s offer… it was _too late_ … she said yes and the rest is history…”

With that, she put her hands into her long raven hair, shaking her head. “And now… she’s gone, my Korra is gone for good, even if we do win… she’ll be gone, and it’s all my fault.”  
  
All Sami could do now was cry silently as both bride’s took Sami into their arms, comforting her as the others not passed out watched before each silently got up and joined in on the gesture, giving the shadowbender all the support she needed.

And as much as it pained her to admit this secret she had been hiding, it did feel at the same time good to just come forward, to have those there for her, not judging her for her mistake.

* * *

Darkness. Pain. It was the only sense of being something. That something, she wasn’t sure of anymore. Her spirit was torn in pieces and continuously knotted and twisted until she only knew pain. She forgot the cause. Her name was forgotten and why she was here wasn’t important anymore. It was dark and she was alone.  
  
" _If you look for the light, you can often find it._ " the voice in her head came to her, but the voice was different, yet she knew those words. They were spoken to her once.  
  
_If you look for the dark, it is all you will ever see…_  
  
 _Korra…_  
  
“Korra,” she said to herself, “That was me, wasn’t it? I looked into the dark with Guan and now… I can’t get out. I’m so far gone and there’s no one here to pull me out this time.”  
  
Her answer came in silence. More pain. More darkness. There was nothing left of Korra, the Fallen Avatar. The shadow had consumed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the side chapters are over as next chapter will be the start of the final battle between our Korra and all the universes' against Sha-Garou! And OH BOY, is it gonna be a wild one. XD But me and AvatarPiptook went along with an idea of having a "Tales of Ba Sing Se" style chapter of sorts, while obviously not as detailed, more dialog based as it's our group of heroes giving secrets over last drinks (Hence the title). It was interesting coming up with the secrets, from the funny (Korra, Thuy, Opal and Hattori's), to emotional/character developing (Asami, Mako, Bolin and One-Arm Kya), to some not included (Lin, Kya, we kind of blanked out with 'em, sorry), and the surprising. (Sami)
> 
> Still, was fun for me and Piptook to write. I had fun writing Hattori's as I got to go back to the events of Book One when Amon took/locked away Lin's bending, but with a Hattori flavored alt. universe spin, while also being able to question something about it. Basically how people actually fell for the obvious burn makeup of Amon/Noatak's, cause I can tell you it ain't no Tom Savini makeup job but basic drawn on stuff. XD (Makeup Effects joke!). And I loved Piptook writing up both the funny and serious secrets of Korra and Asami. Like we have no idea if Korra being chubby as a kid was well known in-universe, but hey, our fanfic, so screw it. XD
> 
> And what was up with that last scene... wait, just you wait. Till next chapter next week, hope you enjoyed this one!


	25. Chapter Twenty Four- The War Has Begun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter up! And some trigger warnings ahead of time, there is the classic graphic violence disclaimer, but also a character death (No spoilers yet) and even some sexy time (I know, but it'll make sense in context).
> 
> There's also the ending which may split you guys, but trust me, it's not what it seems, check out the notes at the end of the chapter for more details. Still, be sure to read this, then give it kudos, bookmark, comment and just overall enjoy it!

Her sigh was drowned out by the sounds of Air Temple Island mobilizing. The entire morning was spent getting everyone up, fed and sent towards the spirit portal in the city that’d lead them to where Sha-Garou was waiting. It was like herding cat-owls and Korra was already tired.

It was non-stop directing everyone to their respective locations and if it wasn’t for Sami and Lin, she would have crawled back into bed to sleep a bit longer. Alas, the day had barely begun and there was more coming.

She strolled past the smaller gatherings between universes. The sharing of ‘good morning’ continued as everyone wanted to say something. Korra yawned, because while it was a good morning, the night before certainly wasn’t too bad either. 

She caught up to Lin just as it was time to finally move, “Everyone’s ready, Chief.”

“Good, let’s get on our way before we all start regretting what’s about to happen.”

“Little late for that.” Was all Sami could say before they saw Korra take a deep breath and enter the portal, with Asami and Sami following her, then more of the crew before those on the island followed.

As soon as each person walked out of the portal, they felt the cold wind of the South Pole brush against them, knowing fully well to wear warm clothing for the battle. While it wasn’t the most ideal location for a massive battle, the waterbenders would have something to use.

Lucky for the earthbenders and those that knew lavabending, they were close to some mountains, which meant there was enough rock under and around to help them in battle.

“Even wearing metal shoes, I can’t sense shit!” Toph yelled out, stomping on the snow, hearing it slush under her feet. “Two seconds!”

With that, she raised both her hands up and everyone had felt the ground quake beneath them, yet nothing looked wrong with the environment around them as the master earthbender stomped down on the ground again, now with a smirk forming on her face.

“Alright, not a hundred percent ground, but it’s enough to be able to know that the Prince Wu whose gay for his Mako is shivering like a baby.” She said, a thumb pointed at the modern Wu who indeed was trying to warm himself up, even with all the layers of clothing he had on.

“I’m sorry, being in the South Pole is new to me!” He cried out before hugging his Mako, muttering something about wanting warmth.

Just then, more glowing purple lights formed all around them as even more portals opened, so many familiar, yet different faces marched out of them, all led by their own Avatar Korra, or for those who lost theirs, their Asami’s leading the charge.

“Wow, that’s a lot of us’, more than before.” Ikki pointed out among her father, siblings and fellow airbenders before noticing those other versions of Zaheer and P’li she saw at the wedding step beside her. 

“No matter the distance, word travels little one. Even between universes.” The non-bender version of the Red Lotus member assured the young airbender. “For just today, order nor chaos does not matter, just survival.”

Ikki just tilted her head at the bald man’s words before turning to P’Li, eyebrow arched. “What do you see in _this_ guy?!”

“He has a lovely singing voice.” Was all the combustion bender said, a slight smile on her lips as she winked at the young girl, who was rather even more confused.

As the army of the Avatar Prime’s numbers grew, Hattori’s mismatched eyes took notice of seeing coming out among the portal of those from his and One-Arm Kya’s universe Iroh II following, leading the United Forces army.

And for a brief second, the normally stoic look of his son was replaced by that of prideful acknowledgement of his father as he gave a small nod.

Hattori couldn’t help but give a smile before he felt a powerful presence stand by his side.

“My daughter told me you confused her for one you knew.” The male chief knew that voice well enough as he looked to see Lord Zuko, the one from this universe, with a knowing smirk on his face. “If I had to guess, you were in a relationship with the version of her from your universe?”

The metalbender had to nod, only to notice the light chuckle fall out of Zuko’s mouth. “We had our issues, but… me and her just got back together, I also just found out-”

“That where you’re from, you’re the true father of my grandson?” 

Hattori’s eyes widened at the former Fire Lord being so on point, he felt himself stumble over his words. “How… d-did you… Did Kya tell you that?”

But all he got was an almost jokeful laugh from Zuko, who turned his head in another direction, Hattori following it to see Bumi and Bum-Ju approaching the Iroh II from this universe, giving a military salute before patting his shoulder and even giving the younger man a hug as the spirit floated around the two.

“Nope, just figured since the same happened in my universe, only with Aang’s son and my daughter, that a similar outcome happened in your universe.”

Hattori’s jaw went slacked at hearing what the former fire lord was saying. “What? _Bumi_ is Iroh’s-- WHAT?!”

“Now, my daughter and the son of Toph Beifong having a child, there’s a dangerous combination if I ever saw one. But you’ll figure it out.” Zuko said back, seemingly ignoring Hattori’s shocked reaction before giving a knowing wink and left the Chief alone to mull over this reveal.

“... I give up on multiverse theory.” He muttered to himself, focusing back on what was to come.

Over with Lin, her head was still pounding a bit from the night before, the cold air not helping as Kya, too feeling it, held her hand.

“Hey, Lin, you’ll manage.”

“Having to fight in battle after a night of drinking? Wouldn’t be the first time.” The Chief noted before looking into her partner’s eyes. “You remember Ember Island.”

“I remember you had to hold me back after that shopkeeper said that big ' _no-no_ ' word about me.” Kya said back in a playful tone.

“You were young, impulsive.” Lin retorted in a direct manner before remembering that later that day, the both of them had made love on the beach. “But if it happened today, You would have to be the one holding _me_ back.”

The healer then saw for herself the lips of Lin’s move up a bit in the corner. She loved that little facial tic. “Oh no, I’d be helping you kicking that bastard's ass.”

Lin wanted to laugh, she wanted to hear more of Kya’s voice, see more of her warm face. She just didn’t know if more would come if something went wrong in what would be soon.

“Kya… You know I’m not the best with words.. And emotion.”

“Since we met, I know.” Lin heard Kya say in a simple manner, eying her a bit, but those steely eyes of the Chief faded away into something more calm.

“But still, regardless of what happens, if we live, if the both of us… if one of us…”

Lin stopped, she didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to think about it, but it was possible it could happen. That either one of them could fall in battle… never to come back… could die.

Lin closed her eyes tightly, trying to get the thought out of her mind, only to feel soft fingers feel the scars on her cheek, opening them to see tan skinned hands holding her, moving her eyes to see Kya’s face in front of hers.

“As all these universes have shown us, anything could happen.” Kya began, holding who she saw not as the Chief of Republic City Police, but as the beautiful woman she saw every night. “But right now, I don’t care about what could happen next. Right now, at this moment, the only thing I care about, even more than my own family, is the woman I love. I love you, Lin Beifong.”

At that moment, like back on Ember Island many years before and her apartment months before, it was Lin who locked her lips against Kya’s, arms around her neck, holding her as tight as she could as the healer kissed back.

Lin didn’t care if this seemed out of character for her to anyone else, far as she was concerned, with the threat of the end of the world looming, she was allowed this moment. 

Moving her mouth away from Kya’s, the Chief gave a kind smile back. “I love you too, Kya. Until the very end.”

Nearby, Thuy had spotted the two women proclaiming their love, smiling at the sight before looking over at Mako who was getting in some possible last words with Bolin as her best friend Opal was talking over plans with her fellow airbenders. She already knew what both brothers were saying and it filled her with hope.

And she already knew Mako loved her very much, as they proclaimed the night before after the reception in their bedroom. The bent up metal bed frame of theirs was kind of proof enough of that.

* * *

_“Yes, yess, AAH, Mako! I’m ALMOST--!”_

_“Oh spirits...”_

_“AAAHHHH!!!”_

_With the loud scream coming from the metalbender’s lips, her climax followed as did Mako’s, before the sudden loud roar of metal being twisted around was heard, catching both lover’s attention as they realized Thuy had bended the metal head post of the bedframe during her release._

_Thuy, her dark brown hair now flowing down her bare back as she had undid her mohawk earlier when she and Mako, both slightly tipsy from the makeshift reception, entered their apartment making out, looked with her lime green eyes wide, a small laugh escaping her lips._

_“Oh shite, that… oh boy. I’m sorry Mako.”_

_Yet Mako, the type not known to show much emotion, couldn’t help but laugh too at what had happened as he felt his girlfriend move off of him, both looking up at the damage._

_“It’s okay, in fact, kind of gives the bedroom an odd flair.”_

_“Oh, become an art critic, huh?” Thuy teased her boyfriend, poking his nose as both laid at each other’s side, the blanket being the only thing to cover their nude bodies as she moved a lock of her hair out from her eyes._

_“Tomorrow may be the end of the universes, so screw it.” The firebender said as he did the same with his own now messy hair as their pillows. “Will say, of all the times we had our ‘fun’, surprised that hadn’t happened sooner.”_

_“Who knew the prospect of the universes possibly ending could make shagging so much better?”_

_Both chuckled at the joke, but knew that things wouldn’t be as jokeful or peaceful as this current moment once they go into battle the next morning, the silence slipping in._

_“Thuy…” Mako began, knowing this wonderful feeling wouldn’t last, cupping her cheek with his hand. “You know I love you, right?”_

_Just then, the tanned finger of the girl from Zaofu pressed against his lips as she simply smiled back. “I know, you made that obvious enough. And even know I just made it even more obvious, I love you too.” Thuy said with all her heart. “And in case we don’t make it tomorrow, I’m glad to spend one more wonderful day with all my friends, old and new. And spent this night with you.”_

_Mako just gave a smile back, kissing her finger before holding her hand. “Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”_

_“Come on, that’s one of the many things about me that turns you on, ‘Shark-brows’.”_

_Of course Thuy would use that name Sami came up with, but he didn’t care, Mako just enjoyed the moment for what it was, wrapping his light skinned arms around her brown skinned body and kissed her, the two falling asleep in each other's arms._

* * *

“Ready to make Hiromi proud?” Thuy heard Azula’s sharp tongue behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts as she turned to see the Fire Mother no longer clad in her robe, but that of old looking armor of the Fire Nation Army.

“Not everything I do has to be about making the old girl proud, but yes.” Thuy answered, getting a look at the armor. “Looks good. Nick that from a museum?”

That earned her a scoff. “While not the same clothes I wore when I hunted down Avatar Aang, it was only fitting I represented the Fire Nation in the upcoming battle. Plus, more battle appropriate than robes.” Azula answered, making sure to get a look at her fellow sisters, making sure her grey hair was still in the ponytailed bun of her younger years.

Something which Thuy took note of. “Don’t seem to see Ty Lee anywhere.”

“Like her namesake, my daughter was born a non-bender, yet a powerful fighter nonetheless.” Azula answered, knowing what choice Ty Lee made. “While there are just as many non-bender sisters among those who could bend, my daughter wished to stay behind on the island alongside those who couldn’t fight.”

“To protect them in case something goes wrong?” Thuy asked to which Azula gave a silent nod, with the mohawked girl casting her glance down. “My mum was a non-bender born into a family of benders from the Northern Water Tribe. She was the toughest bird I knew... “

The memory of Ba Sing Se all those years ago briefly flashed before Thuy’s eyes. “Even as the Red Lotus took down the walls of Ba Sing Se and my father died, my mother’s first thought was to get me to safety, even after a big piece of stone hit her in the head… I wouldn’t be alive today if not for her.”

She then looked up at Azula whose face didn’t seem to change, but was certainly listening. “What I’m saying is your daughter is brave to hold up the line, regardless of her doing it back in Republic City or here.”

“I _never said_ she wasn’t brave, Ty Lee could never disappoint me.” The Fire Mother said, a smile forming on her face, not one of calculating intent or wickedness, but of pride as she remembered the first time she held her newborn daughter in her arms after she gave birth and cried in joy.

“She is my daughter after all. And I will kill anyone who even dares think of harming her.” 

Not far off, Korra grinned as she walked. It wasn’t because she was overly eager for the upcoming battle, but more so that there was happiness blooming around them. Even at the darkest of times. She trotted up to Asami, placing a quick kiss on her cheek before marching out to prepare one last speech for everyone. A perfect memory giving her hope.

* * *

_After they led Sami away so she could rest, the newlyweds went to their room. The room sat in silence for a while as they both were reflecting on Sami’s words. Their thoughts wandered, pondering the events of the day, the events of the night. Now they were alone, sitting next to each other on the bed._

_It could have been more romantic. One of them could have dragged the other to the mattress, but this wasn’t some sloppy evening after too many drinks. It was their wedding night before a risky battle._

_“Would you…?”_

_“Should we..?”_

_They both went off at the same time. What was quiet silence just became a moment of nervousness. They were unsure of how to start._

_“We don’t have to start now,” Asami spoke up, breaking the silence, “I think this is the first time in a while that we’ve just enjoyed each other’s presence.”_

_Korra looked over at her. Her cheeks were slightly red from all the drinking. She leaned forward, teasing Asami some before speaking._

_“Perhaps it’s all the drinks I had, but as I sit here, thoughts of tomorrow kept coming up. I’m worried about you, the others, and the rest of the universes. I’m worried that I’ll fail… again, and that I won’t have anyone to catch me this time.”_

_She stopped when Asami took her hands, “You have this. We’re here to help, as always.”_

_The engineer’s hands slid up the Avatar’s arms before resting on each side of her cheeks. Asami leaned in to kiss her gently, continuing with her positive words until Korra responded._

_The moon gleamed into the window, offering a bit of light as their night only had just started._

* * *

Korra closed her eyes with a smile, the night before was the most breathtaking moment in her life, even as she knew what she had to do next, seeing her wife’s beautiful green eyes in their bed, among many important things, was what motivated her to fight.

“EVERYONE, LISTEN!” She bellowed out as loud as she could, opening her eyes and walking a bit forward before turning to see all who had chosen to fight, standing side by side with each other, all with their attention towards her.

Those she had grown up with, those she met when she first arrived in Republic City to even those she met in other known universes. Some she never knew existed in other universes, even those who she had fought against earlier in her life and considered her their enemy.

All now looking at her as their leader for today.

“... I understand you all made a hard choice to be here today.” Korra spoke up, making sure everyone heard every word she was about to say.

“And I won’t lie to all of you, we all will be making more hard choices today.”

Lord Zuko stood alongside his grandson, the entire Fire Nation and United Forces army at their side along with both the North and South Water Tribe Warriors, with Tonraq, Eska and Desna taking the lead, all listening to Korra’s words.

“Some of you made vows never to kill. I’m sorry to say this, but you most likely _will_ have to make that choice today.”

Many airbenders, knowing of their teachings, knew this was a choice they could not avoid, but they, such as Tenzin, Opal, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Bumi, knew today would be the exception as they looked at not just those from their universe, but airbenders from all over, showing they were indeed never alone.

“And truth be told, as much as I don’t want this to happen to any of you, regardless if I met you or not… some of you may die.”

Azula took the lead in front of her fellow fire sisters, knowing of the choice her other self made to save those from her universe, taking a quick glimpse of those from the medieval universe, seeing it’s version of her daughter lead them, this Ty Lee II wearing the clothes of The Fire Mother her mother wore before her, a slight smirk on the former Princess’ face forming.

“And…” Korra began, only to pause, that same feeling she felt upon telling Sha-Garou that they will fight against him creeping back briefly. “And some of you are scared. Like me, I’m scared too. Scared to know that possibly, POSSIBLY, we all might fail today.”

She could tell that maybe that was not the best choice of words, but she didn’t care, cause if she learned anything from multiverse theory, anything is possible. “But that’s only _one_ outcome.” She continued, the look of a leader coming forth on her face as she held up a single finger.

“Everything I and my friends, allies, my wife have encountered in each of the universes we’ve been through, it showed that any outcome is possible, regardless if it’s big or small.”

Korra then looked right at Sami who was listening alongside Asami, both giving a nod of approval.

“But today, I’m fighting for one outcome, AND ONLY ONE OUTCOME!” The Avatar belted out, her voice echoing all over the snowy tundra. “AND IT SURE AS SHIT ISN’T ALLOWING THE UNIVERSES TO FALL AT THE HANDS OF THAT SHADOW SPIRIT!”

Looking around at her army, she saw those she had indeed met in other universes, the waterbender Bolin, Airbender Mako and both the Firebender Tenzin and Asami. The Zaheer and P’Li from that Red Lotus universe. All the animal versions of herself and her allies along with Hattori. Chief Hattori Beifong and One-Arm Kya standing, alongside Detective Bolin, the Airbender Asami and her Hiroshi Sato in control of his mech with others. 

“Right here, RIGHT NOW! This isn’t just me trying to bring the universe's back into balance!” Korra said a lower, if still loud voice, seeing more of those she met.

The Korra and Asami from the Cobblestone universe stood alongside versions of their allies, both women wearing battle appropriate attire. Then there was Fire Lord Zuko alongside Princess Izumi with both Fire Nation Korra and Water Tribe Asami. The Barbarian Korra, clad in her Avatar Knight armor alongside her fellow quest takers, Master Air Monk Tenzin, Fire Mother Ty Lee and more. All of those from the modern universe, including Wu, Izumi Honō, her wife Hatori Beifong and their Toph and Lin.

“What this is, all of whom I see before me, EVERYONE HERE IS FIGHTING FOR ONE OUTCOME, THE SAME AS ME!” Korra let out again, turning her attention to those from her universe.

From the brothers who became her closest friends, the sons, daughter and grandchildren of her previous life standing alongside the newest generation of airbenders, the three Beifong women standing side by side with each other before Kuvira herself joined them, the entire Republic City police department and Zaofu army behind them. All of the United Forces and Fire Nation Army with Lord Zuko and General Iroh taking the lead, Druk nearby. Azula and Thuy with the Fire Nuns, Kurohi too close with the other dragons as was her own father and cousins with the Water Tribe warriors they led.

“We’re not just fighting to save the universes. We’re fighting to save our friends, family, loved ones, we’re fighting for those we’ve lost! It doesn’t matter if you’re from Universe A or Z, Prime Universe _or whatever_!” Korra continued, the rush she was feeling still rising.

“RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, WE ARE ALL ONE UNIVERSE! _WE ARE THE PRIME UNIVERSE!_ AND WE WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING UNTIL SHA-GAROU AND HIS ARMY IS DEFEATED ONCE AND FOR ALL!”

With that yell, many voices yelled and cheered, all agreeing with all Korra had said, the Avatar gaining a bit of a smile, hearing all the support, moving her head to look at her wife and her shadowbender self. Both women approached her as Korra took Asami’s gloved hands and kissed her on the lips once more, holding her as tight as she could.

After getting what may be her last kiss in, the Avatar turned to Sami whose eyes were dimly glowing, a small tear forming as she gave a respectful nod before her eyes turned bloodshot with yellow edges as Khu-Shui too gave her approval.

“One last thing!” Korra said, turning back at her army who looked at her. “If things do indeed fail and we lose… I just want you all to know, I’m glad to fight alongside all of you, it will have been an honor… Thank you.”

With those last words, Korra turned around and then noticed something in the far off distance near what looked like a large capsized wooden ship. It was a black shape, small, but there was no denying it.

_Sha-Garou was there._

“ _He’s here…_ ” Khu-Shui uttered, with hate towards her only other remaining kind in her words as she allowed Sami in control of her body.

As everyone took notice of the shape, they all saw the glowing red eyes, even from far away, glaring at them, focused on one thing.

“ _Must admit, quite an impressive army you amassed Avatar Korra Prime!_ ”

Even from so far away, the shadow spirit’s voice echoed out loudly for everyone to hear, as if it was all around them, but they all stood their ground.

“ _Too bad it won’t be enough against mine…_ ”

With those words, more blackened shapes rose up near Sha-Garou, each in different sizes, from large to small, all serving one purpose for the shadow spirit in control of the fallen Avatar’s body, all made of shadows.

Everyone saw the beings made of what they were casting, and yet, regardless if they knew of them or not, no one was afraid, they all stood their ground.

“ _So you know Avatar Prime! Only when my army has ended each and everyone one of your pitiful allies and you see how much you failed them, WILL I ALLOW YOU DEATH!_ ”

Hearing those words, all Korra did was shake her head silently.

This was the most focused and serious she’s been in her entire life as she heard Mako and Bolin come to her, Asami and Sami’s side, then Opal, Lin and Kya followed. Just after them were Tenzin, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Bumi and Suyin, before all of the universes stepped forward, all ready for what was next.

Even from far off, both Korra and Sha-Garou could see into each other’s eyes, one of pure hatred in their glowing red eyes and the other with undying hope in their blue ones. No more words were said, but one thing was clear.

By the end, the two will fight; one will stand and one will fall.

And so, almost mimicking each other, both Avatar Korra Prime and Sha-Garou pointed towards their opponents.

With yells from the former’s army and silent obedience from the latter’s, they all began making their charges towards each other, the leaders in front.

The snow nor large crowds did not restrict anyone. They wouldn’t allow it.

With a mighty clash of good and evil, the fight for the universes, _the war between light and darkness had begun._

The first strike happened with Korra letting out a burst of fire with a spinning kick, the flames connecting with the shadow warrior in its path as the Avatar followed that up by raising her hands up, causing the ground underneath some soldiers to rise up before closing her hands together, crushing the soldiers.

A group of shadow soldiers had continued their charge, only to be lifted up from the ground and into the air as Tenzin and Bumi began to bend the air. Each brother began to wave their arms in a circular pattern towards the enemy. The combined waves of air collided with the soldiers and sliced them in two.

One shadow soldier rose up his sword to strike down on Zaheer, who easily moved out of the way with grace before wrapping his hand around its throat and snapped its neck with ease, watching the enemy unform as he then noticed P’li jumping into the air and letting out a combustion blast from her forehead, it connecting against the enemy.

Both Asami and Sami stood side by side, striking and kicking any enemy that dared come their way, watching each other’s backs as the engineer engaged the taser function in her glove and backhanded one as Sami formed up a shadow claw and slashed another head clean off.

With her fellow Fire Sisters using attacks of both the bending and non-bending variety in battle around her, Azula felt like she was young again, letting off blue fireballs at any shadow soldier she saw before her getting in position and letting out a bolt of lightning, destroying the large shadow soldier in front of her with ease as she smirked.

Just then, she felt a gust of wind above her as Thuy and Zuko rode side by side on Kurohi and Druk, both knowing what to do as the dragons let out a mighty roar of flames, red and blue fire spreading across the enemy in the back, while also trying to hit Sha-Garou.

But the Shadow Spirit snarled, raising his fist up before the flames consumed him as a shield of shadows protected him, letting it down when the flames around him did the same.

“Shite! Forgot he can do that!” Thuy yelled out before noticing the evil spirit push out his hands towards her and Zuko’s location in the air.

“INCOMING!” Zuko warned the metalbender as both dragons flew out of the way of some sharp looking shadow projectiles as the rest of the dragons served their objective.

Further down the line, the ground erupted with lava flowing around a few of the shadows as Bolin let out a cry. Mako protected his back, sending flames into a few. 

“Bolin, you alright, bro?”

“I’m fine! I would be better if it wasn’t for these flying shadow monsters!” The lavabender got back to his feet as he watched a metalbender cop getting grabbed by a winged shadow soldier and brought up into the air screaming.

They cleared their small part before continuing to aid others. More shadows came towards them, shortly after the snow started to turn red. The air felt wet and metallic. Mako stopped, holding his hand out. The red cloud had settled on his hand, but neither of them could tell where the source came from.

“Gah, we’re breathing in someone.” Mako didn’t want to believe Bolin’s statement. He quietly hoped that his theory was wrong.

“Just keep moving Bolin. We don’t want to join them.”

Elsewhere, Tonraq was taking on any shadow soldier that came at him with his waterbending, creating ice spikes and blades to stab and slash at any of them before sensing a long water whip swing behind him.

Ducking just in time, he saw the wave of soldiers feel the lash and fall down back into the shadows as he turned to see both Eska and Desna join his side, providing some assistance.

“Apologizes uncle!” Desna said, his voice somehow still flat as he kept fighting.

“Yeah, well, just be more careful next time!” Tonraq said back, kicking some snow towards one large soldier and held his hand out, the snow becoming a blade of ice which decapitated the shadow soldier.

Eska could only scoff at this as she let out a flurry of water whips at two more. “If there is a next time!”

But just as a third soldier got close and actually managed to grab her with his shadowy hand, a large chunk of metal stuck itself into the shadow’s head before it flew back, Eska turning to see it had come from Huan who fought alongside Wing and Wei, staying at his brothers side in the battle.

Not that it stopped the artist from giving a look towards the female leader of the Northern Water Tribe and a nod, complete with a rather odd smile. Something which made Eska blush at the sight of.

“HEY, SISTER! Focus on your new love slave later!” Desna yelled out, getting his twin’s attention back into the game as she resumed her water whipping.

* * *

The pain from others gave him a thrill. It was like fresh air after being locked up for years. Each scream was exciting and he needed more.

Sha-Garou came forward, softly stepping on top of the snow. Tentacles snaked around him as he made his way towards some of the Fire Nation soldiers.

Sha-Garou raised his arms, calling the shadows to him. A few of the firebenders charged forward. The shadows flicked forward, cutting one in half before another’s face shield was ripped from his helm and skull.

Some of their comrades made a pause to their charge. The error in their charge was clear to them but it didn’t matter. Sha-Garou tore them apart too, flinging their remains about as he continued to walk forward into the next army.

A couple of alternates, even an Avatar or two came forward, smirking in their confidence. The shadow spirit lived for this. Their screams of terror motivated him forward.

But they were not his prime target. In the while of fighting fools, he continued searching for the Prime Avatar.

She was further off, but for now, he settled on her helpless followers, such as the poor airbender whose skull and spine he ripped out from his face with a tight grip and easy pull of a shadow claw when he got too close.

“ _Come out and face me, Prime. I’m tired of ripping your allies apart. I’m ready to end this now!_ ”

A wave of shadow came up and over a few more soldiers and alternates. They vanished, only to return on the ground as a large pool of blood. More of the soldiers started to move away. Their fear of sharing the same fate opened a path for the shadow to take.

A young airbender then stood in his way. He pointed at the shadow and shouted at him, “Stop there Shadow Spirit! If you want to get to Korra, you need to get through me, Meelo!”

This, Sha-Garou had to admit, was just _too_ _adorable._

And pathetic at the same time, throwing the bloody skull and spine to the ground in front of the boy as he focused his red eyes towards the rather stoic Meelo.

“ _This won’t be much of a fight, boy! Nonetheless, I will ensure your short life is ended._ ”

In a bit of a surprise, the airbender managed to flip and twist about from the shadow hands sent forth at him. He only angered the shadow spirit until his toes were finally grabbed. Meelo tripped and caught himself, barely able to get out of the way of a tentacle. He sliced the shadow away before being smacked hard.

“ _Now, you’ve only gone and pissed me off._ ” His hand was held up before Sha-Garou clenched it as the shadow started to surround the boy, slowly crushing him.

“Korra, here’s your chance!” Meelo managed to shout.

Sha-Garou’s eyes went wide as he felt a burst of hot air come towards him, turning around and ducking just in time to avoid a fire blast before realizing Korra was now in her Avatar State, the four elements surrounding her.

“ _Oh, that’s cute…_ ” He said, letting Meelo go from his shadows. “ _You’re only opening yourself up not just for your death, but also the end of the chain!_ ”

But before he could send out a shadow burst towards his opponent, Sha-Garou felt, of all things, _a water balloon_ hit the back of his head followed by a mockful laugh from Meelo, just distracting him for Korra to rip a large chunk of earth from the ground and flung it at Sha-Garou, sending him back, yet still on his feet as he snarled.

“ _You also forget, I’M IN CONTROL OF AN AVATAR TOO!_ ”

But as he rose up his hands, nothing happened, confusing the spirit, shouldn’t he be able to tap into the State as well?

“ _WHAT THE?!_ ” He yelled out, only for Korra to charge at him, using flames to boost her, and used airbending to send him back more, looking at his hands. “ _Why can’t I go into the Avatar State, TELL ME!!_ ”

“Because of your corruption, Raava’s power diminished in Korra, blocking her out!” Sami yelled out before wiping out a whole batch of shadow soldiers with her own shadow spikes. “Therefore, you can’t tap into _ALL_ of her power!”

Before Korra could keep coming at Sha-Garou, more Shadow Soldiers seemed to keep coming her way, allowing the spirit to retreat for the time being, until almost colluding with both the Prime Kya and her one armed counterpart who both used their waterbending to try freezing him in place.

Not that it was an issue as Sha-Garou used some shadow hands to break the ice, only to notice multiple pieces of earth and metal began to rain down towards him, realizing Toph, Lin and Suyin were trying to hit him.

“YEAH! Nowhere to hide, asshole!” Toph yelled out with a chuckle before stomping down on the ground quickly, a ground spike bursting up from behind Lin, into another shadow soldier that tried to get her. “On your six, Lin!”

Just then, Toph felt something go by her face as she heard the scream of another shadow soldier, Lin holding her hand out towards the enemy who tried to attack her mother, having gotten a metal cord through its body.

“ _On your three,_ mother! And how would you know what a clock looks like?!” The Chief yelled out as Suyin used her metalbending to make large enough balls of metal to shoot at some nearby soldiers.

“ _REALLY_ , we’re going over this now?!”

Just then, Kuvira came by and willed herself to take a large chunk of platinum, using her bending to form it into a spear and threw it at the evil spirit who had vanished into a nearby shadow soldier, it taking the hit of the projectile instead.

“DAMNIT! Less snarking, more fighting!!” She ordered the Beifong women who all took her heed and kept at it.

As Sha-Garou jumped out of a shadow of a Fire Nation soldier and stabbed him with his claws, he found himself face to face with the three Hattori’s, the Chief, the Bobtail Cat and the Damaged Eyed Woman.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this moment.” Hattori smirked, metalbending his chain and hook in hand around as Hatori took out her katana, engulfing it with green flames.

“Not as much as me.” She said as Cat Hattori bended himself metal clawed gauntlets.

“Same here.” He muttered before all three versions of the same person came at Sha-Garou, unleashing every attack they could, trying to get a killing blow, yet the shadow spirit was privy to them.

For every swing of the chained hook, katana or claw swipe, Sha-Garou jumped away. For every fireball or metal projectile, Sha-Garou blocked it.

“ _What’s wrong, you three are still mad about your losses?_ ” The shadow spirit mockingly uttered his words, enraging all three, which was all Sha-Garou needed to send out a shadow burst to knock Hatori back, backhanded Cat Hattori into a shadow and out another before kicking him away before grasping his hand around Hattori’s throat tightly.

“ _I guess someone won’t be going back to their whore of a Fire Lord…_ ” Sha-Garou hissed as Hattori tried to fight back, preparing a shadow spike to stab him with, only for a ball of flames to collide into him, knocking him away, letting the male Chief go.

"Don't you say that about my mother!" A familar voice yelled out in anger as Hattori held his throat, trying to catch his breath before he felt someone grab his arm and pull him up, seeing who it was.

“Iroh?” He asked, seeing it was indeed Iroh II who had saved him. “Wait, are you my kid or Bumi’s?”

The general couldn’t but be wide eyed at what his father said, almost smiling hearing this. “Wait, _I’m Bumi son in_ \- WHATEVER, no, I’m your--”

But before he was able to finish his sentence, the look on Iroh’s face changed from playful humor to shock as a loud burst was heard, blood hitting Hattori’s face before both men looked down _to see a shadow spike sticking through Iroh’s chest._

All the General could do was look back up in surprise into the gold and blind eyes of his father.

“... _son_.”

The mismatched eyes of Hattori’s went wide as Iroh dropped towards him, quickly holding him in his arms as Sha-Garou watched nearby, having thrown the projectile, furious at what happened before having to deal with Hiroshi Sato’s mech coming at him, retreating.

“No, no, don’t you fucking- NO! _SOMEONE PLEASE HELP MY SON!_ ” Hattori screamed out, his own breathing hitching as Lin, One-Arm Kya, Lord Zuko and his Iroh II rushed over, seeing the Chief mutter some words, saying that his son would be fine as the shadow spike vanished, showing the large bloody hole in his body to everyone.

“Hattori… Hey, Hattori…” Lin tried to get through to Hattori who could only see not just his son bleeding out in his arms, but also Lin Hanzo back in the streets after having saved him.

“Iroh, it’s okay son, you’ll make it. Get you back to your mom and Mihoshi, you’ll--”

“HATTORI!” One-Arm Kya’s words broke through to Hattori who wordlessly looked at her saddened eyes, then the others who protected him, then back down at Iroh’s face, now still, eyes open, yet a calm smile on his face. “He’s dead.”

Iroh II Prime, just now realizing from what Hattori said to the other version of himself, that he was his son in a different universe, patted his shoulder, feeling horrible for him, wondering if Bumi would feel the same way. “I’m… I’m sorry.” Was all he could say.

But the only thing Hattori could do was shake his head, eyes tearing up as he let his son’s corpse down and cried out in agony, having failed to protect Izumi’s son, the son he just found out about.

Just then, he got it, he finally got why his sister did what she did. Why his prime self gave in.

And now, Hattori Beifong was feeling a very familiar rage to other versions of himself, closing his Iroh’s eyelids.

“They’re dead…” Hattori hissed, anger rising as he stood up and held his hand out towards the corpse of a nearby metalbender cop, taking the metal chest piece off and formed it into a large crude looking blade as he looked at towards the large group of shadow soldiers inbetween him and Sha-Garou.

“THEY’RE FUCKING DEAD!” He roared before charging in, hacking and slashing at any shadow soldier in his way with both his chained hook and blade, slicing one in half vertically before bending his chain towards another, pulling them towards him before thrusting his hand through the shadow soldiers chest before jumping on the next.

Nearby, one uniquely different Avatar noticed what was going on.

“Wow, reminds me of the Hatori we knew, only a guy!” The male Avatar who looked close to Korra, known as Avatar Korin said, before seeing Lin and the others following Hattori’s lead as Asamu Sato got up to his back, striking any soldier who got near his fiancé with his electric gauntlets.

“And also chief of police instead of Li!” The male heir of Future Industries snarked out as Korin flipped over him and let out a fire punch at another enemy.

“Don’t tell the Chief that. He’d lose his shit!” 

“Good point!” Asamu agreed as both partners kept on fighting alongside each other.

* * *

Korra flew all over the battlefield using her firebending, looking for Sha-Garou, seeing fellow allies of hers handling the shadow soldiers, some not so much and falling.

She realized as much as she needed to end Sha-Garou, everyone else needed help, then an idea came to mind.

“KORRA’S, LISTEN TO ME!” Her voice echoed out as her other selves who were all still fighting and alive took notice of their Prime self. “EVERYONE OF YOU, AVATAR STATE, _NOW!_ ”

And with that, every single Korra still fighting, female or male, human or animal person, flesh and bone or cybernetically enhanced, all allowed the power of the state to course through them bodies, unleashing all their power as those still fighting took notice.

“ _LET IT ALL OUT!_ ” Avatar Korra Prime commanded before every single version of herself let off mighty blasts of their bending, all down onto every single shadow soldier, causing them to fall and break apart into the shadows, freeing the others they fought alongside with.

Somehow, something felt… _different_ once every single Korra tapped into the Avatar state, the Prime felt a huge rush of power, something that just clicked or connected within her.

She couldn’t describe it, but it felt like so much was given just for that one moment as they all got back to normal.

Once she felt herself drop out of the state, Korra was forced to kneel down on one knee, breathing hard. Looking around, it looked to have worked. There weren’t any more shadow soldiers coming at them, but as she finally got a good view of the battlefield, Korra felt her stomach fall.

Many of her allies were alive, hurt for sure, but still alive, as were the many versions of herself who too had got out of the Avatar State. She was thankful for that, most especially seeing her Asami helping others up.

But the same could not be said for some, seeing their bodies, or parts of their bodies scattered all over the battlefield, or at the very least, struggling to stay alive. Some were those she knew of, some she barely knew, and some were even versions of herself.

“ _Well done Avatar Prime, well done!_ ” That damned spirit’s voice rang out in the sky, Korra raising her head to see it speak from a distance. “ _I’m pleasantly surprised that you and your army of worms made it this far without losing, guess you’re all not so toothless! Well, aside from those on your side who died._ ”

“SHUT UP!” Korra cried out, the pain rising as she tried to stand, looking at her opponent in the eyes. “You had your fun. Now, come here and fight me damnit!” She challenged to which the shadow spirit’s eyes seemed to close before it gave it’s horrible laugh.

“ _Oh, but I don’t think so, not without dealing with everyone else being annoying distractions…_ ” He said before raising his arms up once more and to the horror of Korra and the others still alive, _more shadow soldiers rose up, much more than before_.

“ _Then I’ll have fun picking you apart, your screams soothing my ears like a beautiful piece of music._ ”

The Avatar couldn’t believe what she was seeing, it was almost like no matter how hard they fought, more soldiers would arise from the shadows, blocking their way towards Sha-Garou.

It was pointless she began to think, there’s no way they’d--

“ _THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE WRONG!_ ”

Korra turned her head to see Sami, a little beaten, but still standing strong. Her eyes were bloodshot red and yellow, showing that Khu-Shui was in control.

“ _You honestly don’t get humans, do you?_ ” The shadow spirit spoke through her host's body as Sha-Garou watched, a bit curious at this, if more amused than anything.

“ _And let me guess, you might have an inkling?_ ” He hissed, only for Khu-Shui to nod.

“ _Oh, much more than you know._ ” Closing Sami’s eyes, Khu-Shui thought about everything she has encountered in her and Sami’s journey, everything she has learnt, felt, seen, experienced, then looked back at her eternal enemy.

“ _Ever since I decided to help the woman whose body I’m in, to free her wife from your poison, I learned that humans, as flawed as they are, experience all sorts of feelings and experiences; some good, some bad. But the main thing about humans is their drive. Their drive to keep going and never quit at whatever is thrown at them._ ”

Khu-Shui then looked down at Korra who looked up at the shadow spirit in surprise, hearing her speak highly of her kind.

“ _The Avatar may be the most powerful person in the universe, but they’re nothing without having something to fight for.”_ She said before looking around on the battlefield, seeing all of the humans still reeling, but trying to stand, to stay focused. _”Many of these ‘Worms’ as you call them, they willingly chose to fight today and to keep fighting until their dying breath. They all will not quit fighting you. Korra will not quit fighting you…_ ”

Khu-Shui then pointed at herself, having got it. “ _My host will never stop fighting. I WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING. Because I actually know what’s like to be human. More than you will EVER KNOW! And that’s why I know we’ll win and destroy you._ ”

The Avatar took in her words, every single word, all ringing in her head as the evil spirt shook his host's head.

“ _I always knew you were weak, Khu-Shui. Ever since our kind vanquished those disgusting bright spirits, all while little ol’ you tried to stop it, ACTUALLY BEGGING FOR US TO STOP IT. But this is low, even for you._ ” Sha-Garou chuckled, finding a sick form of humor out of this.

Korra shook her head at the mocking. “NO, she’s right!” She yelled out, getting both shadow spirit’s attention as she finally rose up, ignoring the pain in her tired feet and legs, raising both of her fists up.

“Throw everything you got at us, but as long as we’re still standing, either many people or just me, you will never win Sha-Garou. And trust me you son of a bitch, you will lose.”

But instead of getting a mockful laugh or even a light chuckle, the Shadow Spirit just started into her eyes, shaking his head, dumbfounded.

“ _You just don’t understand, do you? You can keep fighting back as much as you want, but your armies numbers are limited, much less than how you all started…_ ”

Now, his voice had a annoyed tone it, sounding increasingly insulted by all those of his enemies standing up, shaking his head at what he just heard and witnessed.

“ _But as long as a single shadow remains, which if you noticed is a sure thing, my armies are infinite. Keep saying you humans won’t stop fighting all you want, but you’re not powerful enough Avatar Prime, nor are your other selves, or ANY OF YOU STILL STANDING. NONE OF YOU ARE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO STOP ME AND MY POWER! MY POWER IS FOREVER, I AM FOREVER! AND ALL YOU WILL FALL AS YOU ARE ALL WEAK!!_ ”

Before Korra could respond back, something seemed to ring in her head, a voice.

“No, _they’re not._ ”

For a moment, Korra’s cyan eyes went wide, that voice… no, _IT COULDN’T BE._ She had to be hearing things, maybe she got a concussion earlier and now it’s-

“Everyone who chose to fight against you is not weak in the slightest.”

There it was again Korra thought to herself, only to notice Khu-Shui tilt her head, too looking to have seemingly heard it as she looked at her.

“ _Oh, good, you heard that too._ ” The spirit said, now knowing she nor Sami wasn’t hearing things, though the tone of her voice was equal parts snark and shock.

Then both the Avatar and the shadow spirit noticed the look in Sha-Garou’s eyes, they… were shaking.

_He heard the voice too._

“They are indeed more powerful than anything you can throw at them. Much more than even yourself.” The voice rang out as it became clear everyone on the battlefield heard the now seemingly familiar voice as Lord Zuko and Toph, the latter holding the former up, turned their attention to where the three were, _an odd blue glow forming between Korra and Khu-Shui._

“No, it can’t be…” Zuko muttered in surprise as all Toph could do was give that classic knowing grin of hers at the voice both knew all too well as Lin and Suyin rush over to help.

“Ohh, but I think it _is,_ Sparky. I think it is” 

Korra and Khu-Shui’s eyes went as wide as they ever could at what they were seeing while Sha-Garou slowly began shaking his head in disbelief as finally, the blue glow vanished…

And in its place _stood AVATAR AANG_ , a focused, yet coy smile on his face.

“And they’re about to get even more powerful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... So... YEAH, that ending, huh? Have a feeling it's gonna split alot of people, but it's always been planned between me and Coniine, so it was a sure thing it was gonna stay when me and AvatarPiptook finally got to this chapter. So just WHAT will come from it? Well, wait till next week for the next chapter as the battle is still on!... also, before you comment, *Spoiler* ISN'T the new hero, it's still Korra and Asami, it's their story, slight spoiler, even next chapter says that *Spoiler* isn't the hero, it's Korra as the FINAL FIGHT is between her and Sha-Garou.
> 
> Also, Hattori Beifong's Iroh II died... sad, least he gets why the other Hattori's gave into the rage. XD But least others got their chances to shine in battle, not everyone, but a good amount, even Meelo got a chance to prove himself, standing up to Sha-Garou and distracting him.


	26. Chapter Twenty Five- Light Out Of Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... um... some people weren't happy with the last chapter, well, by that, I mean it's ending... and... well... things weren't what they seemed? :Shrugs: Look, I get the backlash, I truly do, but to be blunt, I stand by mine and CountConiine's choice to include it (That was always planned)and things aren't what they seem. Just read this chapter and you'll get... that moment... hopefully.
> 
> Also, the only real TW involves maybe violence and a character death or two, it is the second to last chapter of the fic. Still, hope you enjoy... hopefully.

_Earlier that morning…_

_Sami had awoken two hours before, but it felt like twenty hours had dragged on as slow as it possibly could as the creeping of what may be their final battle was approaching._

_At the moment, the Sato woman was listening to Korra telling her wife and friends that somehow, she could just as easily sense Sha-Garou’s immense power and knew where he’d be, the South Pole._

_She was right of course, the shadowbender could just as easily sense the immense power of the wicked shadow spirit._

_“Sami, there’s something you should know…” Khu-Shui began to speak out in her head as Sami closed her eyes, speaking up._

_“I know, you’re just as scared as everyone else.”_

_The odd silence from the shadow spirit wasn’t new, but unlike other times, it seemed as though Khu-Shui was at a loss of words._

_“I saw you speaking to the Jinora from Hattori and One Arm Kya’s universe, in the spirit world. You’re afraid that we might fail.” Sami explained as she ventured into part of the temple where they could be alone in the shadows and with a blink of her green eyes, the Sato woman was looking into the six eyes of the spirit in the empty black void._

_“I… I never doubted myself before, Asami…” Khu-Shui spoke, sounding unsure. “I came to you, offering my power to help save the universes, to free your wife from Sha-Garou’s influence, to get rid of that monster.” The eyes seemed to want to look away from Sami, who slowly approached them one step at a time as they looked back at her._

_“And look at all the good we’ve done, all of those who decided to help, join us. Exactly like what I told you could happen.”_

_“But now, just hours before we have to end things, you’re having second thoughts?” Sami asked as she saw the eyes look to close before Khu-Shui seemingly nodded without saying anything._

_She felt the frightened feelings the shadow spirit was feeling, she felt them too._

_“I get it Khu-Shui, I do.” The shadowbender assured the spirit, holding out her hand towards the eyes, only to be surprised for a brief moment when she actually seemed to have felt something, like she was actually touching the shadow spirit’s body. But instead of feeling cold, Khu-Shui felt warm to the touch. “Truth be told, I thought it would be a long shot, but look how far we’ve gotten.”_

_With a deep breath as she saw what looked like arms and hands held out to her, Sami reached out with her own and put them around what must have been a temporary shadowy construct the spirit made as a way for both to hug each other._

_“We both have things we regret in our lives, things we lost.” Sami began sniffling a bit, thinking of losing her Korra, her friends, family, Yasuko. “But I promise you Khu-Shui, we will win, we will end Sha-Garou, free my wife from him… and rid you of all the pain you had to live with.” She finished, feeling the shadows hold her, feeling her eyes tear up._

_The human then heard a light chuckle, swearing that if she could actually see the shadow spirit’s face, she’d see Khu-Shui actually give a kind smile back._

_“Thank you Asami, back at you too.”_

_“Sami?”_

_At the sudden voice behind the shadowbender who as soon as she blinked again, she realized she was back in the physical world, turning and seeing who spoke, seeing both Master Air Monk Tenzin and Fire Mother Ty Lee II standing in her presence._

_“OH, Master Air Monk Tenzin, Fire Mother Ty Lee, apologizes, I was… distracted. How can I help you?” She began to apologize when she noticed the book the woman was holding, that familiar book she remembered the former Fire Mother read from. “Wait, is that the book your mother read from?”_

_“Yes. And just after you, the Prime and the others left our universe, our attention was brought to something in the book that you and Khu-Shui need to see.” Master Air Monk Tenzin explained as the Fire Mother held the book out._

_Sami was a bit surprised to hear that, but took the old book in hand, carefully opening it as she looked through it’s pages. “Really? What is it?”_

_“Something that could possibly impact what is to come.” Ty Lee II answered as Sami read the pages until she noticed one page of interest, able to hear Khu-Shui actually translate the pages with ease, her eyes widening as she heard the shadow spirits’ words begin to sound as surprised as her with each word she spoke._

_“Wha-What? Is… Is this what I-”_

_Just then, both Sami and Khu-Shui’s attention was focused on another person behind them, turning to see the alternative Jinora that had been speaking to Khu-Shui in the spirit world._

_“Yes. But what’s in that book, what knowledge it reveals, what it can possibly do. I’m sorry, but it can not leave us five until it is done.” The young airbender explained, going up to Sami and holding her hand, seeming to be unsure of speaking the last part, but looking at the two adults nod in approval, she looked back at the shadowbender who listened to every word._

_“And most importantly, you and Khu-Shui CANNOT tell Korra and Asami about it, AT ALL. Until it is done.”_

* * *

_Present Time…_

She couldn’t believe it, after everything that had happened with Unalaq and Vaatu, Korra thought that her connection to the man she was looking at, heck, all of the previous Avatars before her was severed.

But there he was, Avatar Aang standing right between her and Khu-Shui, whose face showed as much surprise.

“But… but, how?” Was all Korra could say, any and all other words she had to ask wouldn’t be able to express how she was feeling at such a sight, especially once Aang turned and gave her that smile he gave back when they first met years before.

“To make a long story short...” He began, looking behind himself, seeing all the other versions of the current Avatar who were just as awestruck at the sight. “The combined power of you and your other selves, all activating the Avatar state at the same time.”

The airbender then once more looked back at Korra, this time with pride in his eyes towards her.

“It repaired the chain all across the universes, you all and any future Avatars can reconnect with your old lives again.”

Korra couldn’t believe what she was hearing, what was once thought impossible since all those years ago, has been repaired. She could communicate with previous Avatars once more, seeing the wise airbender look at his just as amazed three children and grandkids, giving them a wave and a “Hello”.

But then, a wheezing, sick hiss then rattled all over the battlefield as both’s attention, as was Khu-Shui and everyone else’s was brought back to Sha-Garou, who for what seemed like the first time in his entire existence, felt actual fear, his red glowing eyes trembling more.

“ _No… This cannot be!_ ” He growled out, seemingly in denial as all Aang did in response was just smirk before moving his attention elsewhere.

“Khu-Shui, nice to see you again by the way.” The previous Avatar made sure to acknowledge the shadow spirit who he had visited months before, glad to see her helping out and what she had learned.

“ _You too…_ ” Was all Khu-Shui could respond with as she gave a still surprised nod before Aang turned back to Sha-Garou, looking into his hateful eyes.

“Just so you know Sha-Garou, I didn’t come alone.”

With those words, another blue glow began to form nearby, and another, and another.

More and more of the bright blue lights began forming all over the battlefield, near those still watching the sight before the first new glow vanished, revealing Avatar Roku standing next to Azula.

“Avatar Roku?” The Fire Mother asked in pure shock, turning to her brother whose face was just amazed, seeing their ancestor.

Then the next form showed themselves as the familiar face painted Avatar, known as Avatar Kyoshi was near Bolin and Opal, the former actually squeeing at the woman as she held out her famous fans.

After her, Avatar Kuruk appeared next to Tonraq, readying himself with a grin on his face just as Avatar Yangchen appeared alongside Jinora, Ikki and Kai, as graceful as she ever has been, giving a respectful nod to her fellow airbenders.

More and more of the blue glowing lights that had kept forming by the hundreds vanished, showing the spirits of past Avatars standing alongside the army of the Avatar Prime, ready to fight.

“Un-fuckin’-belivable…” Thuy herself said as she got off of Kurohi and stood next to Mako and both the Kya’s she knew, before sensing someone walk aside her, looking and feeling her jaw drop to see the one Avatar she descended from, Avatar Hiromi, who looked at her with a soft smile.

“Language, Thuy.” Was all she said as Thuy noticed how much they bore resemblance aside from Hiromi’s skin being lighter compared to her more caramel colored skin.

During all of this, Sha-Garou shook his head more, not just growing more and more enraged, but also more frightened by the second at what he was seeing until the appearance of the very first Avatar, Wan standing near the Beifongs.

At this moment, did he realize that in front of him, was not just every single Avatar that had existed, but also those from the very same alternative universes ready to fight against him.

Such a sight forced the shadow spirit to scream at the top of his lungs in anger. “ _NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!_ ” With a shaking point of the finger, he wasn’t having it, he was not dealing with this as far as he was concerned.

“ _YOU THINK HAVING AANG AND THE REST OF THE AVATARS WILL HELP? DEFEAT ME!? RAISE UP YOUR NUMBERS ALL YOU WANT! ENLIST EVERY SINGLE DAMN AVATAR TO HAVE EVER WALKED IN A UNIVERSE! IT DOESN'T MATTER!_ ”

With those words, Sha-Garou lashed out many shadow tentacles in anger around him, hitting the snow in a form of temper tantrum at this. “ _I DON'T NEED THE AVATAR STATE, WITH MY POWER, I AM IN CONTROL OF THE MOST POWERFUL AVATAR IN ALL THE UNIVERSES! AND I WILL END EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES!_ ”

The echo of the screaming shadow spirit lasted for a few seconds as no one said a word as those still standing and all the Avatars stared at the shadow army and it’s leader, not scared in the slightest.

As to break the tension, Aang gave a light laugh that only served to mock Sha-Garou whose eyes went wide in unrestrained anger, smashing his fist on the ground, sending a long strand of shadow towards the airbender, who didn’t even move an inch as a shadow spike pierced out of the shadow and through the spirits’ chest.

“ _WHAT IS SO FUCKING FUNNY?!?_ ”

With that, Aang had to stop laughing, phasing away from the spike as it had no effect on him due in part to being a spirit, putting his hand on Korra’s shoulder, looking at her react to actually feeling his touch.

“He actually thinks I’m going to be the one to stop him, not you, silly spirit.” He noted, shaking his head. “In all seriousness, should I tell him that this isn’t all who will fight alongside you and your allies?”

“Wait, there’s _more?_ ” Korra let out as her cyan eyes went wide before the blue glowing lights formed once more, many all at once to which finally shut up Sha-Garou as oh so many different figures appeared in place of the lights.

“Everyone you see appearing before you, all victims of yours Sha-Garou, not the Korra you control, but yours.” Aang said as it became clear, every single person who had just appeared were those slain in other universes when Dark Korra had invaded.

In front of a slightly wounded Zaheer who was held up by P’Li, both the Ghazan and Ming-Hua they knew formed in front of them, amazed to see the allies they witnessed being murdered be brought back to life.

“Woah, okay, so we heard a voice telling us to fight for the universes. But this is all insane” Ghazan uttered, feeling his waist where he was sliced in two as Ming-Hua looked at her fellow Red Lotus members.

“What do we do, Zaheer?”

The leader, just happy to see his allies, his friends back from the dead, nodded as P’Li let him go, ready to continue fighting. “Exactly what the voice said, fight alongside the Avatar and her army, save the universes, and end the bastard that killed our Korra” 

Ghazan slightly scoffed, forming up a lava disk. “Not exactly what the Red Lotus teached us.”

“Right now, none of their teachings matter, just survival.” P’Li shot back, prepared to fight.

“I can work with that.” Ming-Hua nodded, allowing her water appendages to form up once more from the snow around her.

As for Hattori who had stood alongside the Beifong’s from the prime universes, he was ready to fight once more for his son, hooked chain and his makeshift blade in hand when the two glowing lights in front of them vanished.

The two, clearly a man and woman, had their backs to the four Beifongs, but it was obvious to them who these people were.

“WOAH, Lin?” The voice of the male asked, looking at the new, yet familiar figure at his side as Toph covered her mouth in disbelief at the voice as Lin and Suyin watched in amazement.

“Hattori, what the fuck happened to you?” The voice of the female next to him asked, her voice confirming who these two were to a almost awestruck Hattori and Lin.

In front of them were Hattori Hanzo looking at the alternate universe counterpart of his sister, known as Lin Hanzo.

“Brother.”

“Sister.”

Both the prime Hattori and the alternative Lin heard those words and turned around to see their respective siblings looking wide eyed at them, in surprise at finally seeing them again and vice versa.

Unable to control their emotions, both Hattori and Lin Beifong rushed over and hugged their Hanzo counterparts, the four almost about to cry in each other's arms when Suyin had to awkwardly cough, getting their attention towards her and their mother.

“While I am overjoyed you’re back Hattori and… other Hattori’s Lin, but we have a fight to finish.” Toph noted, patting their backs as Suyin nodded, standing at Hattori’s side.

“She’s right, we have alot to catch up on, but we need to win this battle first.”

Both Hattori and Lin Hanzo looked around, seeing all of those around them, remembering the voice telling them each in the spirit world to fight alongside the Avatar and her army, just now seeing Sha-Garou ahead of them, both remembering his evil all too well.

The one eyed man then couldn’t help but be amused, kindly smiling at Suyin at that moment, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Sounds good to me. Nice to finally meet you, little sis.” Hattori said as his Chief of Police self, putting his grief aside for the time being, threw to him the crude blade.

"Think this is more your speed." Hattori Beifong said as he saw the one eyed man grinning as he properly metalbended the weapon into something resembling his old katana.

“Got something for me?”

Lin herself looked at her other self as she spoke, ignoring the larger amount of scars on the side of her face and the lack of an eye. Out of all the other versions of herself Lin saw, this one was the most surprising.

“Sorry, but your brother kept that one unbroken katana of yours back in his office.”

But that only got a humored smirk from the woman called Lin Hanzo. “That’s alright other me…” She said before holding her hands out as chunks of the ground under her came up in the air, bending them up into two similar looking stone swords before lavabending the blades to make them red hot hardened magma. “I’ll just have to improvise.”

Toph couldn’t help but snort at this. “HOT DAMN! A lavabender!” She said with the biggest smile on her face as she stood by three of her birth children and two of her alternative children. “Can’t help but feel jealous now.” 

Korra herself still couldn’t believe what she was witnessing, all her past lives and those who had died, coming to help her and the others out. It took Asami getting to her side and holding her hand to snap her back to reality.

“Hey, Korra. Amazing as this all is, we still need you to lead us.”

“I’d listen to your wife.” Aang responded, winking at both girls who looked at him. “She does certainly seem like the smarter of you two.” He joked.

Hearing that and seeing Khu-Shui put on a smile on Sami’s face, lowering her head and having said host take back control, giving her approval, Avatar Korra Prime turned back towards Sha-Garou who was at his wit’s end.

“ _Kill them, KILL THEM ALL!!_ ”

And just seeing Sha-Garou scared of what’s to come was all Korra needed to see as she began running forward once more, her newly expanded army following her into battle towards the approaching shadow soldiers.

“EVERYONE, CHARGE!”

And with that, the war to save the universes was back on.

Those with a clear shot began fighting the shadows again. With the numbers, the army of the Avatar Prime began overwhelming their enemy. Sha-Garou, noticing this, slowly began to walk out of the way of the battle.

He saw what this was turning into and he needed space to regroup, think of a new plan. He tore apart a faceless fire nation soldier that dared to step in his way. Who it was didn’t matter, only that he got away.

The ice behind him tore apart, providing a deep gap. It wasn’t going to stop everyone but it did slow down a few of those that couldn’t make the jump. More shadow wisps shot out from the gap to help him. A few poor souls were dragged before and into the frozen depths of the southern pole.

Shifting winds blasted him. He cursed the Avatar host for having thick hair that managed to stick to his face, nose and mouth, even with the shadows covering them. As he wiped his face clear, he saw that Aang, his children and grandchildren were before him.

The airbenders moved together in such a way that appeared they had practiced together for years as Kya unleashed a large wave of cold snow and ice. The combination of elements whipped around him as he covered his eyes.

“We’re not going to let you get away, Sha-Garou. Give up now. Resistance is futile.” The previous Avatar spoke.

“ _Oh, I don’t think SO!_ ” The shadow spirit let out a shout though his host. More shadows from below came to his beckoning.

Aang brought his arms up to block an attack before pushing his grandchildren out of the way from a more powerful attack. When he looked up, the shadow spirit had moved on again.

“Let’s not tarry. We need to catch up.” He urged them on. 

In another part of the battlefield, Lin was swinging her metal bladed gauntlets at a rather large shadow soldier carrying a shield and blade as he advanced towards her.

But it just wouldn’t seem to budge with what it had to protect itself. “DAMN SHIELD! Need help here!”

Chief Hattori rushed over and swung his hooked chain at the shield, trying to rip it away, but the large shadow warrior wasn’t budging, beginning to tug the male Chief towards him as he yelled out.

“Hey! Cut it out ya’ big bastard!,” Hattori Beifong let out, trying to pull the hook away, but it was caught as he was inches away from the blade.

Only for an actual blade of steel to slice through the shadowy arm holding the shield as the warrior yelled out as the sharp sword came back into Hattori Hanzo’s hands, swinging it in place with a smarmy grin on his face.

“Sorry, was a little caught up!” The one eyed man yelled out as the shadow warrior growled and let Chief Hattori go, charging towards the Prime version of the man who came at him.

But instead of going for a slice, Hattori Hanzo slid under the mighty swing of the shadow sword and stabbed into the back of it’s foot with his blade, hearing it yell out as the formerly dead man looked up.

“NOW LIN!”

But Lin Beifong, who had just taken out another shadow soldier alongside her alternative brother was confused until two molten hot bladed swords flew into the waist of the large shadow warrior, it not having enough time to process it before Lin Hanzo lunged towards it with her hand out.

And following her hand was lava she bended out of the ground, the hot earth cutting diagonally through the large warriors chest, finally finishing it off as the remains fell apart into the shadows with Hattori and Lin Hanzo getting back to fighting side by side with their respective siblings.

“Okay, it’s official, I like her more than you two!” Lin Beifong called out with a slight grin as both Hattori’s briefly glared at her before resuming the fighting.

In any other moment, the reunited Red Lotus members would seem out of place fighting alongside various Zaofu and Water Tribe soldiers, especially those of the Prime universe. But it did not matter at the moment as both sides had similar goals.

“Come on, ya’ shadow sons a’ bitches!” Ghazan let out a loud sound of laughter from his mouth following his words as he threw three lava disks around himself, watching them strike various enemy soldiers before bringing it back and formed them into multiple burning hot spikes to stab them with. “Is that all you got?!”

Just then the Lavabender felt something hit against his back, just noticing it was Ming-Hua who was lashing her water tentacles at any nearby shadow soldier, the tips frozen to slice them in two.

“Having fun aren’t we?” She snickered as P’Li and Zaheer were nearby fighting more shadow soldiers and helping others in need if able to.

“Hey, considering what happened to us, fuck ‘em, we earned this!” The mustached man noted as he took Ming-Hua by the waist, not noticing the slight blush on the waterbender’s cheeks as he swung her around in his arm, allowing her to spin around and dispose of more of the enemy as he let his arm up, a burst of lava coming out in front of him towards a winged shadow soldier.

“You haven’t done that since Chi-Kow...” Ming-Hua said, a memory slightly popping into mind as she kept fighting.

Ghazan snickered at that, just noticing the red on his partner’s face, smirking back. “True, and we were also on a dance floor.”

But before Ming-Hua could respond, Bolin rolled by, throwing his own lava disk at more soldiers who almost got close to them.

“Not to ruin the chance to say I knew you two were a thing, but can we focus on not dying?!”

“Sure thing kid!” Ghazan answered, also taking note of Bolin’s bending. “And shit, you’re a lavabender too! How’d ya’ learn that?”

“Last ditch effort after the you I fought brought down a cave with lava when you killed yourself!” Bolin too answered truthly before both lavabenders rose up their hands, unleashing a massive wave of lava towards an advancing hoard of shadow soldiers.

The younger lavabender then turned back at the Red Lotus member. “Something about not going back to--” But just before he finished his sentence, he noticed Opal and some airbenders fighting off some more, seeing what looked like some hands come out from her shadows.

His green eyes went wide and without a second thought, Bolin rushed towards the battlefield as fast as he could and lunged at his fiance, just as the shadow soldier had come out of her shadow with a knife in his hand, tackling her as he felt a sharp pain jab into his shoulder blade.

“AAHH!” He let out just as the Beifong girl realized what he just prevented, quickly swinging a nearby airbender staff from a corpse sideways, destroying the head of the shadow soldier before looking back down at Bolin, fear in her eyes.

“Bolin, NO! ARE YOU OKAY?!” She cried out as she saw the blade vanish into the shadows, seeing the blood come out of the wound just as Mako heard and saw what happened, rushing over to hold him up too along with Ghazan and Ming-Hua, the waterbender checking out the wound.

“He’ll be fine, it didn’t go in deep enough to do lasting damage.” Ming-Hua assured Opal and Mako, the former holding Bolin in her arms as three others protected them.

“You saved me, Bolin.”

That got a pained, yet kind smile from Bolin who struggled to get up with Opal helping, giving a quick peck on her cheek. “I told you that I'd protect you in battle, even die for you. And OH SPIRITS, does it sting!”

“Yes, young love is amazing!” Toph was heard yelling out as she had burst out from the ground behind them. “Now quit lolly-gagging!” She said, raising up her hands to let out multiple stone spikes to impale various shadow soldiers before giving a wink towards Bolin as she held more off.

“But in all seriousness, Bolin. Thank you for protecting my granddaughter. Glad to have you as a future grandson-in-law.”

Hearing those words made the lavabender’s eyes gleam as did Opal as the six warriors kept up the fight against the still advancing army, the master earthbender noting something about one of the two unlikely allies.

“Hey, didn’t you try to kill me before, Ghazan?”

Said lavabender gave a quick glance at the source of the voice and grinned “Well shit, I did!” He said, realizing who the old woman was, fond memories, at least to him, coming back to mind. “Toph Beifong, small world!”

If it were not for the fact that she was pounding dirt and metal at the shadows, Thuy might have stared at the fact she was fighting next to a couple of Avatars. Hiromi, Kyoshi and Korra were not too far from each other as they willed the elements with ease.

“I have to say ladies,” Thuy started after throwing down another shadow with her metal wires and snapping it's neck, “I didn’t think I’d be fighting next to three Avatars, let alone me freakin’ ancestor. This might be the coolest of things I’ve done.”

“Keep focused, Thuy.” Her ancestor spoke. Her older bending forms still cut through the shadows.

Thuy shrugged off her words. A few more shadows came forward and she crushed them too before getting a sneaky idea and used her fingers to let out a loud whistle.

Following that to Hiromi’s amazement was Kurohi, with Druk following her, laying down some fire from above, setting ablaze some of the enemies of shadows on the ground and air who were far off from the battlefield and away from any of their allies.

Thuy couldn’t help but give a smug grin at her ancestor who looked at her. “Yeah, I got me a bloody fuckin’ dragon.” Words which put a smile on Hiromi’s face as she blasted away fire at more shadow soldiers behind her without even looking.

“Wonderful creatures, aren’t they?”

Kyoshi bullied her way through the shadows. Her fans fluttered and folded with each movement, controlling the rock and water around her.

Korra wasn’t as forceful. She weaved through, blowing away their foes with air and fire. They continued their fight, complimenting each others’ bending as best they could, given the generational differences.

Korra then gave chase after one, putting it down. Behind her, a shadow soldier worked its way closer. It prepared its attack from behind when a shock stopped it dead in its tracks. Asami was there with a determined look before it melted into a smile.

“Don’t forget to watch your back.”

Korra gave her a puzzled, if blushing look before she was bumped again. Avatar Kyoshi was there to break it up.

“There’s no time for flirty looks,” the taller Avatar spoke, “But I can see why you married her. She has your back like my friends had mine. Especially my dear Rangi.”

“Wait, _Rangi?_ ” Korra had to ask about the unfamiliar name and the context used to which Kyoshi had to give a light laugh as she sliced down another shadow soldier with her fans.

“I’ll explain after we win. You have someone to face so that we can finally end this.”

“She’s right, Korra!” Aang’s voice rang out above them, coming down with a swing of his staff, sending a large amount of the enemy out of the way, the sight of the capsized wooden ship ahead of them as the airbender pointed at it. “The battle will only end when _you_ vanquish Sha-Garou and he’s right over there.”

Korra nodded, looking at her previous life. “You do know what I’ll have to do to stop him, I have to kill-” Korra began before stopping as Aang laid his hand on her shoulder, making sure to wave his staff at more shadow soldiers with his free hand.

“Yes, I know. And I won't judge you for what you have to do considering the circumstances, but remember, if you can find another way to get rid of him for good, _don’t hesitate._ ”

Hearing those words of encouragement, Korra nodded before quickly turned around to where Asami was fighting alongside One Arm Kya and Sami, rushing over as fast as she could and raised the earth below the enemy they were fighting, just long enough for her to grab Asami and give her what may be the last kiss she could give her wife.

Asami’s green eyes looked into those blue eyes confused as Korra gave her that lopsided smile.

“Sorry, just one more for the road. I love you, Asami Sato.”

That earned the Avatar a just as lopsided smile from her wife. “I love you too, Korra Sato.”

Proud to hear those words, Korra turned back around with one goal in mind and began charging her way through towards the ship, getting rid of any enemy in the way as Sami took notice.

 _“When should we-_ ”

“We’ll gIve her five to ten minutes, if things aren’t over by then, we’re going in.” Sami answered back to the shadow spirit, not realizing she said those words outright in the middle of the battle, nor noticing Asami herself heard what she said, wondering what she meant. But a shadow soldier coming at her before she shocked it turned her attention away for the time being.

* * *

Korra followed her possessed counterpart closely. Either of them were attacking each other, which allowed the Avatar some time to gather her thoughts. She watched the shadow, taking in how it was handling the beating. Her concern grew when Sha-Garou got inside of the ship.

Her pace slowed as she followed inside. She didn’t dare light a fire. Instead, Korra began searching the darkness with only her ears to reply on.

Every step creaked under her feet and the shadow wasn’t responding.

“Sha-Garou?” Her breath was uneasy as she turned a corner, “Just come out here. Let’s get this over with. You lost again.”

The shadows, again, were not responding. The darkness and odd sounds were beginning to drive her mad. Her temper was returning by the time she found herself in the very bottom of the ship.

The hull and keel must have broken on impact when the ship crashed on shore. Her feet crunched the snow as she made her way into it. She was afraid to let her guard down.

“ _Scared yet, Avatar Korra?_ ”

Korra turned quickly, firing off a ball of fire. She didn’t have to answer for others to know that this was testing her.

“ _This battle is not over. You were foolish to follow me into the darkness, the shadows, the perfect place for me to kill you._ ”

She arched fire around her in hopes of finding the spirit. It was countered with shadows slinking around the fire.

“ _Peek-a-boo…_ ”

But just as Korra turned around, as if out of a bad scary mover, Sha-Garou lunged out of the shadows in front of her, tackling her to the ground, though she was able to throw him off.

Quickly getting up, Korra watched him come at her with two shadow claws, trying to slash at her to tear her apart, having to duck and move behind wooden beams which came apart when the claws made contact.

Thinking of the first thing that came to mind, Korra metalbended some nails from the floor below her towards Sha-Garou who blocked the small projectiles with a shadow shield before grabbing her by the throat and smashing her into a wall, following that up with a harsh punch to her face.

But Korra wasn’t going down without a fight, elbowing the face of the shadow spirit in return as hard as she could.

This enabled her to get free before rushing and charging into him, bringing Sha-Garou to the ground, grabbing and pulling the shadowy arm away, even trying to break it, only for Sha-Garou to slip into a shadow out of her grasp.

Korra rose up, looking around before taking a piece of wood off the ground, trying to see any sign of Sha-Garou.

Just then, she heard a slight sound behind her, to which Korra swung with all her might behind her. She just caught Sha-Garou as he rose up from her shadow, breaking the piece of wood across the side of his head, causing him to stumble backwards.

Taking the chance, Korra bended some nearby snow and began to freeze it into ice before firing it away at Sha-Garou who easily dodged it, the ice, in the form of a spike, smashing itself into the wall as Korra groaned out in annoyance.

As Sha-Garou growled out, he ducked behind a fire punch of Korra’s and sweeped his foot under her leg, causing her trip and almost falling face first into the ice spike.

Lucky for her, she managed to press her hands against the wall, just avoiding skin contact with the frozen ice, smashing it away with her fists.

But this distraction was all Sha-Garou needed to wrap a shadow tentacle around the Avatar’s foot and pull back his hand, causing the shadowy appendage to pick up and swing Korra sideways into a nearby wall.

With a harsh slam, Korra felt the old fragile wood smash into pieces around her before hitting the hard floor.

Groaning in immense pain, the Avatar attempted to get back on her feet, only to suddenly feel Sha-Garou’s foot thrust into her stomach.

“AGHH!” She let out a scream of pain as she rolled on her side before feeling the shadowy foot press down onto her throat, coughing and choking at the pleasure applied as Sha-Garou looked down at her, holding his hand up as it began to glow as red as his eyes.

“ _Come on, is this it?! You disappoint me, Avatar Prime! Even your other self put up more of a fight, and she was so weak minded!_ ”

But before anything else could happen, another shadow tentacle burst out from a nearby shadow and grabbed Sha-Garou’s glowing hand and pulled him towards its source.

Fortunately, the wicked shadow spirit was caught off guard enough to be pulled into the shadow before being flung out another just as Sami had come out and roundhouse kicked him into a metal beam, watching him smash into it before falling to the ground.

“You shut your damn mouth!” The shadowbender let out, her eyes turning red as she got into a stance, ready to fight as she turned briefly to Korra. “How are you doing?”

“Other than having the air kicked out of my lungs, a possible concussion and maybe a splinter in my thumb,” The Avatar began, getting to her feet as carefully as she could, both keeping an eye on Sha-Garou, who too was rising up. “I think I can go another round.”

A sick chuckle escaped from Sha-Garou. “ _Aw, the little shadowbender whore angry I insulted her wife?_ ” His guttural tone mocked the Sato woman who was ready to rush in, but held herself back. “ _Looks like I touched a nerve._ ”

Both the Avatar and the shadowbending human looked at each other and nodded before turning back at their opponent and charging at him, both using their respective bending as the shadow spirit easily avoided and blocked their attacks.

Though while he wouldn’t admit it, having both of his opponents attacking at the same time with such fierce anger towards him did catch Sha-Garou off guard, if slightly, having to play defense, waiting for an opening.

Korra let off a scream with burning flames following towards Sha-Garou, who had raised up a shadow shield to block it as he grabbed the shadow hand Sami rose up and easily broke it in two, able to quickly drop kick both back, falling into his own shadow in the process.

Both women saw that before looking around the environment, Korra bending up some ice spikes in hand and Sami forming up two shadow claws over her hands, waiting for any sign of the evil spirit.

“Khu-Shui, where is he?...” Sami asked out loud, waiting for her ally to say something as Korra’s eyes scanned around the environment.

“ _.... KORRA’S LEFT!_ ”

Sami’s glowing red eyes went wide as she began to move Korra out of the way, only for a fist made of shadows to hit her right in the face, Korra about to react when Sha-Garou rose up from behind her, grabbing one of the ice spikes and was about to stab her with it.

Yet that never happened as a shadow tentacle struck him in the face, making him grunt in pain before quickly backhanding Korra away to the ground, turning to see Sami look at him right in the eyes, her own hands raised as many tentacles and hands rose from the enviroment’s shadows around her.

This, Sha-Garou had to snicker at.

“ _Let me guess, someone’s daring to take me on all alone?_ ” He asked, mocking the shadowbender in front of him as Sami briefly looked at the groaning Korra who struggled to get up as did Sha-Garou. “ _That’s fair, I think our friend needs a breather._ ”

Before Sami could retort, something, or rather, someone rang in her head, resulting in her smirking back at Sha-Garou who watched her glowing red eyes turn that familiar bloodshot with yellow edges.

“ _You’re right Sha-Garou, I think it’s time we end things._ ” Khu-Shui’s voice spoke through Sami’s lips before pushing her hands towards him, the shadow she was casting sending out a large wave towards Sha-Garou.

Yet while Sha-Garou quickly sliced through the projectile. He realized too late that Khu-Shui had rushed towards him and swung a shadow claw at him, intent to kill.

He just managed to dodge the attack as the good Shadow Spirit began her assault as Sha-Garou too began swinging a shadow blade at her, the both of them swinging and dodging at and away from either other.

Throwing a small shadow ball at Sha-Garou, making him stumble back, Khu-Shui rushed forward once more and delivered a front flip kick, Sami’s heel striking down onto the top of Sha-Garou’s head.

Driving him down, Khu-Shui quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him up, only to just avoid a sideway slash of a shadow blade to the throat before Sha-Garou grasped one of Sami’s arms and struck it with a closed fist.

Khu-Shui heard and felt one of Sami’s upper arm bones crack, yelling out in pain before moving her legs away so her hated opponent couldn’t do the same, quickly jumping up as high as she could to grab a low hanging metal bar with her good hand and arm.

With that, the female shadow spirit rose up and grasped Sha-Garou’s neck with her legs before twisting herself to the ground, also bringing down Sha-Garou down onto his neck on the hard wooden floor.

Getting her feet off and seeing Sha-Gaoru stumble, Khu-Shui pounded the ground, causing a shadow spike to burst from a nearby shadow, almost getting at his face, if not for him rolling away.

“ _Aw, what’s wrong Sha-Garou?_ ” The female shadow spirit muttered out, letting her voice get louder, watching Sha-Garou stumble a slight bit as he felt the damage in his host’s neck.

“ _Did you forget that being in control of your host means you feel their pain as much as I do Sami’s? It’s only a matter of time until we wear you out. In fact..._ ”

Having just said that, Khu-Shui quickly turned to look at Korra, who had been slowly healing herself, looking better than she had before both shadow spirits went at it. “ _... Korra and I have the energy to keep on fighting._ ” She said, turning back at a furious Sha-Garou.

“ _Ohh…_ ” Said evil spirit began, hate in his eyes before raising his hands up before Khu-Shui felt a Shadow tentacle knock her in the back, pushing her towards Sha-Garou’s grasp as he held her by the neck with one hand, the other glowing red.

“ _Funny you should mention that, energy._ ”

Just then, it seemed to strike Khu-Shui as to what was about to happen as her red and yellow eyes went wide.

“ _No, PLEASE! DON’T-AAAAAHHHHH!!!_ ”

The painful, unpleasant screams of Khu-Shui’s rang out as Sha-Garou pressed the glowing hand over Sami’s forehead, almost gleefully in how much he enjoyed hearing his fellow shadow spirits screams of pain.

“ _PLEASE! STOP IT! IT HURTS! SSSTOP ITTT!!!_ ”

Korra had to cover her ears as the screams of tortured pain erupted from what she was watching, looking in fright as what looked like Khu-Shui’s old form, that slimy, sticky black ooze, was forciby pulled out of Sami’s mouth with a move of the glowing hand…

… All while Sha-Garou just laughed the hardest he’s ever laughed before as he energybended the shadow spirit out of Sami’s body.

Soon, the screams did indeed stopped, those evil red eyes looking at the passed out Sami in one hand and the unmoving physical form of the shadow spirit in the other before turning his attention towards Korra.

And if he was able to in his host’s form, he’d be grinning his sharp teeth from ear to ear.

“ _Now then…_ ” 

Just as he began speaking once more, he threw Sami to one side and Khu-Shui to the other, those damned eyes honing in on a shocked Korra.

“ _With them out of the way, you want to hear what I have planned for your wife?_ ”

Hearing those words drip out of his mouth as he took a step towards her slowly, Korra’s eyes went wide, seemingly unable to move as she listened.

“ _First, once all your army is disposed of, even those fucking Avatar spirits, I’ll have her beaten and bruised body dragged in front of you…_ ”

What was worse for the Avatar was that she could just now visualize what the shadow spirit was saying as he kept speaking, taking another step. “ _Then, I'll force her down as I make up the sharpest blade I could make out of shadows…_ ”

The thought of watching her wife struggle as her enemy approached her with a shadow knife began shaking Korra to her very core, unable to do anything…

... except feeling something different about herself.

“ _Afterwards, when I finish slicing off her articles of clothing, I’m gonna turn and watch your pretty blue eyes, as I SLOWLY glide the tip of the blade across her pale skin…_ ” The vileness of his words oozing off of the lips of Sha-Garou spoke of seemed to now make the odd feeling of Korra’s become more apparent, confusing her as she didn’t know what this feeling was.

“ _All while I will listen to the sweet lyrics of the song she makes, made from her screams of pain, as blood seeps out of her wound. And then…._ ”

Now Korra was starting to lose focus of Sha-Garou’s threats as she began noticing herself sweat and getting hotter, like her temperature was rising as… _something_ was forming within her.

“ _I’m going to repeat the process all over her lovely body, all while you’re forced to watch and hear her beg for you to save her, yet you can’t…_ ”

What was this odd feeling Korra thought to herself, it felt… it felt like something was… sparking within her.

“ _And finally, when she’s given up all hope and damns you…_ ”

Just then, Korra realized what she was feeling, the spark, it formed from her chest, through her blood stream, into her muscles, through her arm and finally, towards her hand, the sensation expanding…

“ _You’ll finally be given the pleasure of me cutting her throat open._ ”

It then came to Korra… 

_Like a bolt of lightning._

“ _Only then will I end you and the uni-_ ”

“SHUT UP!!!”

As loud as she screamed, Korra raised her right arm and hand towards Sha-Garou, fingers out as they seemed to spark before finally, _a bolt of WHITE LIGHTNING shot out of her hand._

It came right towards Sha-Garou’s face who only JUST realized what happened and dodged out of the way as he could feel the power just glide past his cheek, the bolt smashing it’s way towards the wooden wall and through it.

As the battle still raged on, a unbroken One Arm Kya used her water appendage to slice through various soldiers while the airbender Asami she knew fought alongside her, only for everyone’s attention to be brought towards the loud crack shattering in the sky.

As everyone, including even the shadow soldiers turned, they all witnessed the bolt of white lightning explode out of the side of the old ship, briefly catching all on the battlefield off guard.

“... I hope that was our Korra who just let out that lightning bolt.” One Arm Kya finally spoke out as the alternative Asami nodded.

“Agreed.” Was all she said before blowing away another shadow soldier, the battle resuming.

Sha-Garou stood to the side, his glowing red eyes widened once more, looking at the massive hole in the ship created by the attack before slowly turning to head to witness white sparks form all over Korra as she looked at what she had just done, what form of bending she had just unlocked, feeling the power surge through her body…

It was at that moment the Avatar looked right back at the shadow spirit, her hands crackling with lightning as a knowing smile formed on her face.

“Now, where were we?”

With her growing strength, Korra brought the wrath of the universes down on the shadow spirit. The snow below them came to her calling before becoming small shards of ice. She sent them forth, forcing Sha-Garou to counter the attack.

He wasn’t able to stop them all and then the incoming bolt of lightning. He had to weave and counter, but the timing was forcing him to be perfect.

A fury of strong winds whipped up what snow was left while the rocks below began to crumble and break as the fight was brought to the outside. He did not have the chance to attack.

Korra kept him on the run and made his path until it brought them to the cliffside. The glacier began falling apart. He was left to make a choice to counter or fall with the tide.

Korra stopped ahead of him. Her arms began moving in a circular motion as the air began to change with the polarizing energy.

As she made her final move, Sha-Garou commanded his shadow tentacles to his aid as Korra felt her leading arm get tugged away. Lightning once again lit up the sky as he circled around his opponent.

Now with the upperhand, he began to control their match once more. The tentacles started to twist her around and tug on her limbs. Her arms were pulled away from her body. She was forced onto her knees as he walked around her.

His smirk was taunting her. “ _Alright, screw watching me torture your wife…_ ” He began, making sure the sadistic pleasure in his voice rang through her ears from all the shadows around her.

“ _I’m just gonna rip you apart like the worm you are._ ”

The memories, those visions that once haunted Korra were once again before her in the form of the shadow spirit controlling her counterpart. She fought back the panic in her heart as she watched the shadow spirit form a striking blow.

Korra looked away at what felt like her final moments, just thinking she had failed.

But then it never happened.

She heard the attack, the crackling and tearing of flesh, blood hitting her face, but when she looked up again, she only saw Asami in front of her, the large pointed claws of shadows having struck through her chest and out her back.

Only one word escaped from Korra’s mouth.

“NNNNNOOO!!!!”

Rage filled the Avatar as she broke out of the shadow’s grasps. She bolted towards her love who was thrown forth by Sha-Garou, sliding on the ice and snow to catch her.

“I’m fine Korra. This had to happen...” A pained smile came out as Korra just then realized that it wasn’t Asami she was holding, but _Sami_ , her blood on her hands. It hurt nonetheless.

The Avatar set her down gently before being forced to block an attack from Sha-Garou. The block of ice came up and then at the shadow in one swift move. She then flung him towards her army as they were still in battle.

“ _Not what I was intending, but hey, about time she's been dealt with._ ” Sha-Garou bragged before preparing to raise up his hand…

… when nothing happened to the two’s confusion, most especially Sha-Garou’s as Sami managed to slip on a knowing, if hurting smile.

“ _Huh?_ ”

He tried to move his raised hand, but it wouldn’t move as without warning, he felt a sharp pain in his host’s chest, driving him to the ground.

“ _AHH! What the?!_ ”

Then before the shadow spirit could look to see the reactions of the two in front of him, the last person he expected flashed before his glowing red eyes, hearing their words.

“You…. you…”

The evil spirit wanted to shake his head at the voice echoing in his mind, angry at this. “ _No, you’ve lost control, I AM IN CONTROL OF YOUR BODY!_ ”

Korra watched confused before hearing Sami cough harshly, blood exiting her mouth, realizing she needed to heal her, just as the actual Asami of this universe spotted the events and rushed towards them.

“NO! What happened to her, Korra?!” The Sato woman asked before her and Korra saw Sami weakly point at the body Sha-Garou was controlling, which jerked around, seemingly against his control.

“Exactly what I was hoping for.” Was all Sami could muster to say before seemingly passing out, Korra bending some snow into water to use to heal her wounds, if just to prolong what she was trying to prevent.

But a violent scream echoed from the shadow spirit, getting Korra and Asami’s attention as Sha-Garou felt his host's body drop to its knees, seeing both hands glow not red, but _blue_.

“YOU HURT MY WIFE!” the voice of the fallen Avatar had rang out from where he was, the hands grasping at the chest area. “GET OUT OF MY BODY!!”

“ _NO! NNOOO!!! It’s mine, MINE!!!_ ” Sha-Garou’s voice roared out as the Korra he stole her body from was now taking back control, somehow.

From within the darkness she stood, the woman no longer known as “Dark Korra”, but simply “Fallen Korra” had finally begun to fight back against the darkness, the pain and self-suffering. Holding her hands out, having witnessed from where she was her wife protecting the Avatar Prime from the evil spirit, seemingly at the cost of her own life.

It should have enraged her, but the familiar spirit she had long thought was driven away was telling her to not to give into anger, but to fight back. Raava was telling her to take back what was hers.

“ _Take back control, Korra! He is not in control of your body, YOU ARE!_ ”

And now, the shadows that had engulfed her physical body had begun to be pulled apart, slowly, but forcibly as Sha-Garou screamed, the cyan eyes of Fallen Korra coming out as she kept forcing the shadow spirit out of her body.

“GET OUT OF ME! NOW!!”

Both Korra and Asami had just realized what was about to happen. “NO! He’ll gain physical form and we won’t--” The latter woman yelled out before feeling a hand grasp hers as she and her wife looked down to see Sami, still hanging on to life, softly shaking her head.

“Please, don't…” Was all she requested as the process kept happening. “This needs to happen.”

“ _If I can’t have your body…_ ” Sha-Garou hissed out in pain before a stray shadow tentacle struck through Fallen Korra’s stomach, causing her to scream out in bloodcurdling pain.

“ _THEN NEITHER CAN YOU!!_ ”

But regardless of the deep wound she received, Fallen Korra had finally gotten the last of the shadow spirit off of her, throwing the disgusting being to the side, giving a faint laugh until falling forward face first onto the snow, Asami rushing over to help her up, seeing how bad the wound was.

“The wound, it’s too deep!” She yelled out to Korra who held onto Sami before the three still awake heard a loud scream of deep anger and rage, turning to see it’s source as the shadow spirit known as Sha-Garou arose in his humanish form, his six eyes looking the most furious the three women have ever seen.

“ _You little bitch… Do you know what you just cost me? WHAT YOU RUINED?!!_ ” Sha-Garou screamed out, pointing at the bleeding out woman in Asami’s arms.

“ _If I can’t make the universes mine, fine. BUT I CAN STILL FUCKING RIP AND TEAR YOU FOUR APART!_ ” He screamed, enraged at what happened, preparing to take a step forward before noticing the three’s attention had turned away from him to something else, something behind him.

But before Sha-Garou could turn to look, a shadow tentacle grasped around his throat, beginning to seemingly choke him as he prepared to summon up a shadow hand, only for another to grab it.

“ _ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?_ ” The shadow spirit choked out, knowing who was to blame…

… until his red eyes began widening in horror at what he was seeing happen to the shadow tentacles grasping him. They were beginning to crackle as something was coming out, _A BRIGHT LIGHT was coming through the cracks._

Just then, the tentacles pulled Sha-Garou back as both Korra and Asami’s watched as Khu-Shui, in her own human shaped physical form of shadows, grabbed a hold of Sha-Garou with her hands as the cracks of light began forming all over her body as the evil shadow spirit screamed in fright.

“ _What is this, WHAT IS THIS?!?_ ” 

“ _A bright light, Sha-Garou. One you thought was extinguished…_ ” Khu-Shui let out her own voice, echoing loudly. “ _You fell into our trap._ ” She said before turning her glowing red six eyes towards the four women, allowing those still awake to witness them change into a glowing set of _three blue ones_ as the rest of her form no longer held shadows, but was now made of pure bright light.

“ _Korra, Asami, get those two away from here! NOW!!_ ”

Both women without any objections grabbed the wounded and began getting as far away from the two spirits as while that went on, any and all shadow soldiers the Avatar’s army was facing began to dissipate back into the shadows, confusing those still fighting until their attention was brought towards the Avatar, her wife and the two wounded woman.

Only to then take notice of the glowing bright spirit, her form burning the shadow spirit at the touch as it kept screaming in agony.

“ _YOU CAN’T BE! YOU CAN’T BE A BRIGHT SPIRIT!!_ ” Sha-Garou screamed as a beam of light engulfed the two spirits, rising high up into the sky as he felt his power fading away, what dim glow of his red eyes looking into the bright and shining blue eyes of Khu-Shui’s, fear only seen in them. “ _HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?!?_ ”

But all Khu-Shui, the spirit who was once made of shadows, now one of those she had wished to protect, did was just give a light mocking chuckle.

“ _Simple, I learned something you would never be able to understand. Humanity._ ”

With one last scream of pain that faded away into nothingness, Sha-Garou was gone. And soon, the bright beam of light evaporated, sending out its energy all over the battlefield, blinding everyone just briefly.

But once it was gone, so was the bright spirit known as Khu-Shui. But with her power seeming to be gone, there were no longer any corpses or body parts on the battlefield. Everyone of each universe along with all the Avatar spirits looked around and realized all the same thing.

Everyone who had died in battle was alive, breathing, full of life once more.

“WOAH…” Hattori Beifong had to let out, seeing people he had seen be slain in battle alive once more, all happy to be living once more as those close to them got to be reunited once more in life.

Realizing to himself what this meant, he quickly looked around as his prime counterpart took notice, looking around too. “The fuck are you looking for, other me?” He asked as the male Chief kept looking until finding who he was looking for.

“IROH!” The Chief yelled out, rushing over to his son, no longer seeing the hole in his chest as the general was confused at the turn of events as he stood up before just seeing his father who began to hug him tightly, even hearing him cry.

“Are… are you crying?” The Alternative Iroh II asked, rather surprised yet confused as Hattori just held on, just happy his son was alive as Lin, along with her brother and her Hanzo counterpart watched the moment.

“Ahh…” Lin Hanzo began, confused at this. “Was there something we missed?” She asked for her and the other Hattori as the prime Lin couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

"Your brother can fill you in."

Just then, the airbender Asami felt herself have… a vision?

It was of her own universe and she was seeing her fiancé back on the streets in their universe where she had fought that evil Korra and to her amazement, she was coming back to life.

“Korra?” She asked, before looking to see One-Arm Kya behaving the same as her, both realizing like them, all those who had lost their Korra’s to the shadow spirit’s evil plans too were getting similar visions, all of their Avatar’s coming back to life in their respective universes to their amazement and happiness at this turn of events as everyone began to celebrate and cheer at their victory.

“AH-HA!” Ghazan yelled out as stood near Ming-Hua before putting his arms softly around her waist and kissed her on the lips, only for the armless waterbender to form her water tendrils around him and dip him down for control of the kiss, all while P’Li gave a sly smirk towards Zaheer who silently gave one back before to getting the vision of their Korra coming back to life. 

"Zaheer?" The combustion bender asked to which her boyfriend simply gave her a relieved smile as multiple thoughts came to mind.

"P'li, she's alive…"

“Another bad guy’s ass kicked.” Toph grinned as she patted Lin’s back. "Also, your favorite waterbender is looking for you." She noted before sensing her daughter rush over to Kya to hug her as tightly as she could, knowing they were pressing their lips against each other's.

“And Hattori, great to have you back, kiddo.” She then said to her oldest son who turned to her and gave him a big hug with Suyin joining in.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." The leader of Zafou said as the one eyed man still couldn't believe he was alive once again.

Bumi, having Bum-Ju chirp around in happiness, gave a loud howl of victory alongside Meelo and even his Iroh II before feeling Aang’s presence near him, turning and seeing the spirit of his father smile proudly at him. “Dad…”

“Just so you know, even if it didn’t seem like it in the past, I’ve always been proud of you, Bumi.” Aang said, both looking at Kya and even Lin surprising Tenzin with a hug, though the normally stoic leader of the Airbenders gave off a proud laugh as his children and Iroh II watched the sight loving it. “Been proud of all of you.”

Bumi wanted to give his father his own hug, arms out, but stopped. “Ah… if I tried to hug you, would I just phase through you?” He asked before seeing and feeling Aang answer the question for him, embracing his son.

"What, no hug for me?" Both heard Kya ask, but with a sly smile on her face as Aang let go of Bumi and too hugged his daughter, hearing her sniffle at seeing him again.

"Of course Kya, got so many years worth of hugs I still owe all of my family."

As for Bolin, he tried to raise his arm in victory to cheer, but his shoulder wound prevented that he groaned in pain, yet a quick kiss on the lips from Opal helped make the pain be a bit more bearable.

Just nearby his brother and future sister-in-law, Mako stood nearby with a smile until Thuy’s lips hit his own cheek, making the firebender blush red as she smirked at her boyfriend, taking notice of Azula looking right at her, Lord Zuko at her side as both nodded in respect, Kurohi and Druk behind them.

“You’ve done well Thuy,” Hiromi’s voice rang out behind Thuy, who along with Mako, looked in the direction of the former Avatar who walked up to her and patted her shoulder. “Glad to see that like me, you fight for what’s right” She continued before making note of Mako. “And have the same taste in men.”

That remark caught the couple offguard as Hiromi gave a light laugh as Kyoshi walked behind her.

“Don’t scar them for life, Hiromi.”

If there was ever a time to see a massive group of people celebrating in relief and joy, it was this very moment. Everyone, regardless of universes, nations, bending or alignments, treated this victory as well deserved and worthy of celebrating.

Well, mostly everyone.

While everyone else was focused elsewhere, the gravely wounded fallen Avatar stood staring at the ground. The ice wasn’t a comfort to stare at, but she didn’t need to feel a part of everyone’s victory. This was, after all, _her_ fault. She found herself having a hard time looking towards Sami when she was calling out. It only took Sami falling into her when she tried to get out of Korra's arms to bring her back from her thoughts.

“Asami,” the fallen Avatar held her tight. “Please, let me heal you.”

“It’s…” Sami’s eyes were falling out of focus as her wounds continued to bleed out, yet kept her kind smile, “Fine. All that matters is that I... have you back, my love.”

Fallen Korra shook her head, drawing up some water from the snow. As she pressed it over the wounds, she felt the tears start rolling down her cheeks, knowing it wasn’t working. “Don’t go, please, I can’t lose you too. Not after everyone else, not after Yasuko, I’m so sorry...”

She held Sami close. Whether it was minutes or hours, she couldn’t tell. The guilt of it all wanted her to lie down. Deep inside though, she felt a form of relief. Why she felt relief, Fallen Korra couldn’t answer. She was seeing things clearly and there were no voices, but her own, bothering her with sneering comments.

The pain from the battle came back with a reminder of what happened. Every cut and bruise screamed at her. She wanted to cry out along with the pain, but she was reminded of what true pain was. She held onto Sami, hugging her tighter. Even when her vision started to darken, she made a promise.

“I’m not letting go this time.”

Both Asami and Korra Sato Prime watched the scene unfold, seeing the Fallen Avatar holding the corpse of her wife, repeating those same words, feeling their eyes water for the two as did Avatar Aang.

“... I’m not… letting go… this…” Fallen Korra slowly whispered out, feeling her own life finally take its final breaths as she tried to open her eyes just once more, to see Sami’s smiling face in death before she passed.

And just as she slowly closed her eyes for the final time, the area around her wife seemed to glow brighter.

“... _time…_ ”

At that moment, the Fallen Avatar had finally passed away, a minute after the woman she loved.

After a few minutes, the celebration had to end and those around had to focus on certain matters.

First was a moment of silence from everyone on the battlefield for the lives of two women who did not belong in the prime universe nor any of the others. All knowing while one had done horrible things, it was born out of misplaced grief and pain, preyed upon by a worse evil, the other simply sought to stop it and help her love.

Knowing that while they had the Uchū crystal, there was no way of possibly knowing how to get to their universe, let alone know if there was anyone left still alive, a decision was made concerning the bodies of Fallen Korra and Sami.

The canine Avatar rose up the snow with one hand, showing the ground under it as another Avatar, the male version known as Avatar Korin, had cleared out a deep and wide enough hole for the two, with both the Fire Nation born and Modern Korra’s carefully picking up their bodies and laying them into the makeshift grave.

The Korra from the cobblestone universe made sure the couple’s hands with the rings on them were on top of each other before the Prime, with tears that hadn’t left her cheeks, gave the okay for the earth and snow to be placed over the bodies.

Once done, Korra looked at her wife, who held the electric gauntlet with the Uchū crystal in it, taking the purple rock off of it and giving it to her before placing the glove on a space over where the grave was, as a makeshift marker.

Yes, they all knew that a snow storm may cover it up in the future, but the thought was still there, Asami no longer held back her tears, knowing how things turned out in a universe split from theirs as Korra approached her loved one and held her from behind, sharing her tears.

A moment or so later, it was time for all the spirits of past Avatars to go back into the spirit world, each and all giving their goodbyes and respect for those they fought alongside with.

As they began slowly fading away, some made sure to get some last words.

Wan looked at Korra, giving a silly, yet knowing smile. “Sorry we weren’t able to talk much earlier, maybe if you’re up for it, would like to know how the most recent Avatar has been dealing with things.”

“Think I can find some time.” She said back as Wan gave a nod and slowy disappeared.

Avatar Hiromi gave hers to all the different versions of the society she founded and gave them a silent prayer to them, most certainly to Thuy, Azula, Fire Mother Ty Lee, the three women returning the gesture back as she faded away.

Avatars Yangchen and Kuruk both made their leaves after giving encouraging words, along with some humored jabs at each other before vanishing.

Avatar Kyoshi approached Korra Prime, patting her shoulder as her height dwarfed that of the current Avatar’s, giving a painted smile back.

“Great job. Like I said, if you ever want to know more about my past, including that of Rangi, you know how to find me.”

As a nearby Asami was oddly curious on who this ‘Rangi’ was, Korra then realized something.

“Wait, this Rangi, was she your--”

But before she was able to finish her question, Kyoshi was gone. Korra knew this was something she had to get back to, looking and seeing Roku give his respect to Lord Zuko who nodded back, turning to her and giving an old wise smile before vanishing.

“And now there’s just me.” Aang noted as he was the only past Avatar left, having just been hugging his grandchildren, approaching his successor. “You once more proved yourself, made a choice that only you could have made, Korra.”

“Well, I did get lucky that all of the me’s going into the Avatar State reconnected....” She tried to explain, awkwardly waving her hands in a circle as she tried to find a good term. “Well, the connection between me, you and the others. Was worried those after me would have to deal with the damage.”

“Maybe they would have. Still, as you’ve seen, any outcome is possible.” The airbender said, followed with a bow. “Khu-Shui was right, the universes were put back into equilibrium because of you.”

Hearing the spirit’s name did furrow Korra’s brows a bit as Asami approached the two. “I wish she was here to see what was achieved, what her sacrifice got us.”

“That reminds me, how was she able to become a bright spirit?” Korra asked, still wondering.

“Humanity.” A familiar voice spoke out, getting the three’s attention as Fire Mother Ty Lee universe approached them, with Master Air Monk Tenzin and the Jinora from One-Arm Kya’s behind her. “A spirit of shadows be able to become that of bright light through the positive influence of humans.”

“She experienced what it was like to be human, both the good and bad.” The other Tenzin explained.

“I realized, along with what these two showed in their book, that the energy I was sensing in the Spirit World wasn’t some remnant of a bright spirit that wanted to be found, but it was the energy of one forming within Khu-Shui.” The alternative Jinora brought up, her hands to her chest. “But she could not become one without exiting her host. That’s what we spoke to them about this morning.”

It then hit Korra, what the female spirit mockingly said to Sha-Garou back in the ship and what resulted from it. “Sami and Khu-Shui let Sha-Garou energybend them on purpose, to make the transformation complete.”

“If that was the case, why couldn’t Korra do that before the battle, get Khu-Shui out, she turns into a bright spirit and then we sic her onto Sha-Garou?” Lin had to ask, having been overhearing the discussion as Master Air Monk Tenzin turned to her to explain.

“Because Sha-Garou had to be out of his host for the damage to be permanent, to spare his Korra’s life. But with his immense power, someone else of equal power had to do it--””

“And Sami knew it had to be her wife. She knew in order to finally break his hold over her Korra, she had to do something drastic to get her to fight back.” Aang realized, looking down at the grave.

Asami looked down too. “She knew the whole time, Sami knew she had to give her own life to free another.”

“And it worked.” Korra responded with, holding her wife's hands. “In the end, she was the true hero, not me…” She continued, kneeling down and resting her hand on top of the glove as she spoke her next words to the deceased softly. “Thank you.”

Then the current Avatar turned around to look back at Aang who gave his own silent prayer of respect towards the fallen. “So, take it I’ll see you around more? Maybe I can bring Katara to the Spirit World to visit you sometime soon? Maybe even see Sokka.”

An shocked look appeared on Aang’s face, one quickly replaced by that of happiness. “We’d love that. Be seeing you around, Avatar Korra Sato.”

And with those words, Aang’s form went away, leaving only those still alive from all over the universes.

Realizing she still had to bring everyone home, Korra took the Uchū crystal in hand and grasped it with both hands, thinking back to all those different universes, all the portals made to jump from one to another.

With open glowing purple eyes, those same purple glowing portals reformed, showing on the other side different locales from different universes.

“ _Thank you all._ ” Korra’s voice echoed out as everyone listened. “ _You have no idea how thankful I am to all of you, all of you different in each and every way possible, all coming together to save not just your universe, but the others. Today’s victory would have not been possible without you all, please know that._ ”

Those words said, Korra closed her eyes one more and opening them again, showing the cyan in her eyes as those from different universe’s began making their leave.

“So, guess this is goodbye.” Chief Hattori Beifong said, knowing this would be the last time either universe would interact with each other, with One-Arm Kya, Lin Hanzo and Iroh II at his side, looking right at Chief Lin Beifong, Kya, Toph and Suyin who stood in front of them.

“Yep, what’s gonna happen now?” Lin asked before One-Arm Kya had to stretch out her back, hearing a slight crack.

“Ehh, me, like I said, I'm retiring as soon as I step my foot back in our universe. There’s a lovely dame waiting for me back in that little village, same with my daughter in the streets.”

“I’m sure both would be happy to see you. Good luck, badass me.” Kya said back to her one armed self, shaking her hand as the bloodbender smiled back.

“You too, also badass me.”

“As for me…” Hattori began. “I gotta bring back my son back to my Fire Lord Izumi and his sister.” He noted, patting Iroh’s shoulder who smiled back at his father.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell my mother you got me killed.”

“Wait, your son- YOUR MOTHER?! Is that why you were hugging him before?” Lin Hanzo interrupted, looking at both men confused as Toph and Su were also surprised to hear this.

“Yeah, have to side with her there, what’s that about?.” Suyin asked as Hattori sighed.

“Turns out in my universe, my ex, who's now my girlfriend again, Izumi, was actually pregnant with Iroh when we broke up and I’m his dad.” He explained before nudging at Iroh as he looked at his sister. “By the way, he’s your nephew.”

Those who hadn’t known stood jaws slacked, except for Toph who gave it some thought. “Eh, I can see it happening.”

“Trust me, we didn’t see it coming either.” Iroh had to point out, sensing the confusion as he pointed at himself and his father.

“Wait, what about me?” Lin Hanzo had to ask, just now realizing something. “Everyone knows of me as the Equalist Ripper, what if word gets out that I’m related to both Republic City Chiefs of Police, whose connected to Fire Nation royality. And that I’m also alive!”

Hearing that, Hattori had to snort a bit in that familiar Beifong way.

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, sister.” He began to answer, putting his arm around her shoulder. “The world thinks that Lin Hanzo is dead. But they don’t know anything about Lin _BEIFONG_.” He said with a coy smile, seeing the others, especially his one eyed sister realize what he meant.

“Do… do you really think they’d accept that?” She asked to which Hattori shrugged.

“I dunno, maybe. I may have to fudge some details, say you were never in control during the murders, that all of them were of Sha-Garou’s doing. That’s how that lady me from that future universe got off the hook.” He explained, not bothered as he began to turn away, waving at his alternative family. “Nice to meet you all!”

As his Lin, Iroh II and One-Arm Kya gave their goodbyes and followed him into the portalback to their universe, Lin couldn’t help but give a thought, turning to see where her Hattori Hanzo was, seeing him slowly ease on trying to talk to Opal and Bolin, considering the past, only for the airbender to happily hug her uncle to his amazement.

“Lin, you’re thinking something. What is it?”

The Chief looked down at her mother, knowing what she had been thinking as she could tell Kya and Suyin were wondering the same thing.

“Do you think I should do the same with our Hattori? Lie to the press, say he wasn’t in control of his actions months ago, have him live under ‘Hattori Beifong’?” Lin asked, seeing Opal and a just as welcoming Bolin drag the one eyed man over to her brothers and Kuvira to introduce him to them. “Give him a proper second chance at life?”

“Certainly be something to get used to.” Suyin answered after a few seconds of silence, but put on a happy smile, witnessing her older brother look to get on fine with her kin. “But if you think it’s the right thing Lin, I think we can all manage it.”

“And come on, the Chief of Police before you has done worse things.” Toph brought up to which her daughters had to look down at her, deadpan looks shared.

“Seriously?” Kya had to ask to which Toph stretched her arm in annoyance, knowing what she meant was not the best comparison.

“Look, I get I fucked up in the past, I’m willing to admit it and we’re still healing up old wounds. But maybe instead of focusing on the past right now, let's focus our eyes on the future.”

Oddly enough, maybe it was all they’ve endured these past couple years, the universe hopping, feeling so damn tired after the battle, or maybe just Kya taking her hand and giving her that damn beautiful smile in approval, but Lin couldn’t help but agree with her mother.

“I like how you think, Chief.”

After some time, the last people from a different universe, the infamous four members of the Red Lotus from the universe where they had actually taken it’s Korra, raised her to be one of them, only to see her as both a close friend and adopted daughter, had left through their portal.

Only few remained for those of the Prime universe, everyone beginning to make their way back to their homes, all giving their goodbyes, from friends, family, allies, proud to finally go back and to get away from the battle.

But before she would enter the one back home, Korra stopped as she held Asami’s hand, said Sato woman turning to see her partner looking back at the lone gauntlet on the grave they made.

“Korra, you know I’m not the most spiritual…” Asami began as Korra just kept her eyes on the empty battlefield.

“... maybe both were separated, one to answer for what she had done away from the other. Maybe that other you was granted mercy and is able to be with Sami in the spirit world.”

The Avatar then turned back around to her wife whose green eyes looked into her blue ones. “I don’t know. But what I do know is both were happy to have expressed their love before they passed away, to know they still care for each other. Like us.”

Hearing those words, Korra couldn’t help but giggle, kissing Asami’s red lips. “Always know the best words to cheer me up. I love you.”

Words which always made the heiress smile, touching the necklace given to her at the altar. “I know you do, and I love you back.”

Holding each other’s hands, both ventured forth into the portal back to Air Bender Island, the purple portal closing behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah, told ya' things weren't as they seemed at the end of last chapter with Aang appearing. (Ah, who am I kidding, someone's gonna complain anyway) XD But yeah, not only has Sha-Garou been defeated, but at the cost of Sami, Dark (Or Fallen) Korra and Khu-Shui's lives, all to help save the day. Me and Coniine wanted this final battle to be massive and we upped it by having all the past Avatars and those who died by Sha-Garou's hands (Directly or indirectly) come to join the good guys. Plus, Korra can bend lightning now, poor Mako, he's no longer special! XD JK Eh, maybe he can still train her there. XD
> 
> Still, the day is saved and everyone is going back to their universes. But there's still one last chapter left, some stuff do have to be resolved, not saying what, have to wait until next week for the final chapter! XD


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